"Spring Breakers" (Harmony Korine)

[drizzle]

seent it

enjoyed it lots, it's worth writing about in close detail but i don't feel like doing it at the moment. in the coming months this movie will likely be either dismissed as a dumb novelty trifle or wildly over-hyped as an artistic masterpiece. both of these pov's have merit, neither really nails the truth.

it's nowhere near as sleazoid or sexually exploitative as the marketing campaign would lead you to believe. for a movie about a bunch of misguided teen girls running around in bikinis, it actually felt rather chaste in some ways. there are only 2 sex scenes, only one of them involves the main characters, and it's surprisingly far more intimate than you would expect. even the incidental shots of nekkid reveling spring breakers feel more grotesque than anything else, Korine uses them at first to present his setting as a mindless rage of hormones, then to give the proceedings a certain sinister overtone. maybe my sensibility is just warped by watching too many real exploitation movies, which this one definitely isn't.

the movie dabbles in a lot of things, but never settles into one focused avenue of pursuit. there are elements of a (decidedly pg13) teen sex romp, coming of age drama, crime drama, character study, glancing commentary on rap culture and its effects, a bit of cinematic experimentation for the fuck of it, but the movie never really commits to any of them. a bit of each is thrown in the mix, some of it sticks and some of it doesn't. to Korine's credit the resulting combination works pretty well, and in a few point actually adds up to a startling sum.

surprisingly, the closest association that popped into my head was over was Godard's 'Breathless' (no joke). both movies are hinged on the allure of delinquency and flirting with criminal behavior as a form of youthful rebellion and finding oneself, filtered through love of/experimentation with the moving image. instead of early classic cinema as the main inspiration and influence, Korine is channeling music videos, trashy rapsloitiation movies, girls gone wild and youtube videos just as much as anything more conventional or canonical. trying to mine the movie for metaphors or any significant exploration of anything beyond that would be a mistake imo.

[Spartan]

surprisingly, the closest association that popped into my head was over was Godard's 'Breathless' (no joke). both movies are hinged on the allure of delinquency and flirting with criminal behavior as a form of youthful rebellion and finding oneself, filtered through love of/experimentation with the moving image. instead of early classic cinema as the main inspiration and influence, Korine is channeling music videos, trashy rapsloitiation movies, girls gone wild and youtube videos just as much as anything more conventional or canonical. trying to mine the movie for metaphors or any significant exploration of anything beyond that would be a mistake imo.

I read this and almost cried before I read any further.

[drizzle]

don't worry the connection is more spiritual (can't really think of a better word) than anything else

this is not in any way a talky slow french movie that's more 'important' than actually 'good'. it's a dayglo fantasy about teenage girls in bikinis running wild in south florida with mixed results. but I think both movies are motivated by similar impulses and are interested in similar things, so in my mind they linked up.

i'm fairly certain you would enjoy it

[Spartan]

Thank you.

[peanut butter]

In this Korine interview he talks about the movie and how music/culture influenced it. He does well to express his love for the Chicago drill rap scene, and tell why he believes Gucci Mane is the rap game Frank Sinatra.


http://pitchfork.com/features/interview ... reakers/1/


PEACE

[Employee]

http://www.vulture.com/2013/03/gucci-ma ... s-sex.html

"They sent me a clip of this girl walking across the room with three or four Coke cans on her ass, and we cast her, based on that video," Korine told Vulture.

"At the end, he woke up and was like, 'I feel real nice. I feel like Mozart’s on my dick.'

[Gregg Popabitch]

I saw it last night.

I liked it a lot. It's like you're watching it on molly. The movie is fucking ridiculous and there are a lot of scenes with contrasting tones/feels (like the scene where they are robbing the chicken shack and nicki minaj's "moment 4 life" is quietly playing from the truck's stereo). It's pretty much an exploration of nihilism and hedonism (especially when James Franco's character is introduced) and I feel like you are supposed to leave the movie quietly thinking to yourself "These bitches are dumb."

Jeff Jarrett is in the movie. I was blown away.

The chick i was watching the movie with said she recognized the twins in the movie as the ATL twins. This was the first time I've heard of these fools. I google them and I'm just blown away by their lifestyle. Their life is spring breakers. Here's a link if you are just as ignorant about them as I was: http://www.vice.com/read/meet-the-niera ... of-atlanta

[Philaflava]

twinz been talked about up in the

[Gregg Popabitch]

okay, that's cool. it was new to me.

I never thought that Gloss would be all up on the hipster mentality of "SIMPSONS DID IT, SIMPSONS DID IT"

[drizzle]

Jeff Jarrett is in the movie. I was blown away.

THAT'S WHO THAT WAS

I couldn't figure it out. It was one of the more randomly hilarious moments in the whole thing too.

The twins were an awesome movie nerd touch. Oddball paired henchmen pop up in tons of different movies through history, the twins in the matrix sequel are a good example. It's usually a neat trick where they're mostly in the background but draw attention through whatever eccentricity is given them. Korine found himself a perfect set here and they're actually real, I don't think he could've come up with something as good if he made them up. Albeit it would've also been neat if they got Riff Raff in there to make another pair with Dangeruss, like they apparently intended to originally.

[Gregg Popabitch]

Jeff Jarrett is in the movie. I was blown away.

THAT'S WHO THAT WAS

I couldn't figure it out. It was one of the more randomly hilarious moments in the whole thing too.

The twins were an awesome movie nerd touch. Oddball paired henchmen pop up in tons of different movies through history, the twins in the matrix sequel are a good example. It's usually a neat trick where they're mostly in the background but draw attention through whatever eccentricity is given them. Korine found himself a perfect set here and they're actually real, I don't think he could've come up with something as good if he made them up. Albeit it would've also been neat if they got Riff Raff in there to make another pair with Dangeruss, like they apparently intended to originally.

Word to all of this.

[Gregg Popabitch]

btw, Franco murders this movie imo. He is absurd, creepy, and menacing all at the same time somehow.

[FAZER]

Funniest movie I've seen this year.

[AWAE]

[Pronay]

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1 ... akers_ama/

[BARRY LURKIN]

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1 ... akers_ama/

RACE RIOT GRAMMAR NO AFFECTATION.

[ThaJim2]

I was fairly disappointed. Trying way to hard to be artsy when a more straight forward exploitation route or at least a more straight forward editing style would have served the movie much better. The techniques used look like someone wanting to use the techniques instead of having a purpose for them. I don't know why Faith was in the movie at all as nothing was explored with her character that could not be accomplished by the dudes wifes character.

[Kalistoga]

the ending was

[djjeffresh]

spraaaang braaaaaaake

[djjeffresh]

[Gregg Popabitch]

I don't know why Faith was in the movie at all as nothing was explored with her character that could not be accomplished by the dudes wifes character.

That was my one complaint from the movie. Once faith left the movie and never came back, I was like "huh?"

[Comedy Quaddafi]

^ Me too. And it was the exact moment I knew the film was going nowhere.

Still a solid film of course.

[drizzle]

Faith is meant to be the group's conscience, or the last shred of it at least. her take on the trip is completely innocent, in juxtaposition to the others. after she leaves the others are left free to do whatever until the string plays out. incidentally, her phone convo with her mom (or whoever) mirrors nicely to the phone convos the other two girls at the end.

it's the other one that's unnecessary, she's only there as a hanger on with the two 'bad' girls who wants to be down but is not really 'bout that life

[PopeyeJones]

Saw it last night.

at film school style analysis of this meandering music video. at it's obsessive "message!" moments that would make Keenan Ivory Wayans' Postman blush, for which Korine is too ashamed to even try to pull off without a half-assed, sheepish wink.

Would give it a solid 8.5 while surfing your phone or having a conversation while watching.

Would give it a solid 2 if watching it demanded sustained and focused viewing.

Usually get annoyed when dumb motherfuckers talk through movies. Everyone in the theater was talking through this one, which is the right way to watch it, IMO.

Can't imagine the script for this was longer than 7 pages. 6 of those 7 pages are just V.O. exposition, repeated over and over again in the hopes that the audience won't notice that having characters directly state their precise feelings in a moment doesn't become more meaningful through endless repetition.

What a fucking passingly enjoyable train wreck, though.

If I had to parse it out I'd say this shit was 33% Natural Born Killers, 33% Drive, and 33% The Room.

[ThaJim2]

Faith is meant to be the group's conscience, or the last shred of it at least. her take on the trip is completely innocent, in juxtaposition to the others. after she leaves the others are left free to do whatever until the string plays out. incidentally, her phone convo with her mom (or whoever) mirrors nicely to the phone convos the other two girls at the end.

it's the other one that's unnecessary, she's only there as a hanger on with the two 'bad' girls who wants to be down but is not really 'bout that life

I know that is what the character was supposed to be but the execution was not there. She barely raises an objection over any of the worst actions the other girls commit such as robbing the diner and hell she is there snorting lines too. She never mentions hey this guy is super creepy to give some kind of warning just a general things are not right.

[The Rapping Coffin]

agree with popeye 100%

can we all laugh at this...he fills the icesickle void for me nicely http://www.spin.com/articles/spring-bre ... pired-teen

[Gregg Popabitch]

Everyone in the theater was talking through this one, which is the right way to watch it, IMO.

It's exactly how I watched this btw and I liked it.

(shrugs shoulders).

[drizzle]

Faith is meant to be the group's conscience, or the last shred of it at least. her take on the trip is completely innocent, in juxtaposition to the others. after she leaves the others are left free to do whatever until the string plays out. incidentally, her phone convo with her mom (or whoever) mirrors nicely to the phone convos the other two girls at the end.

it's the other one that's unnecessary, she's only there as a hanger on with the two 'bad' girls who wants to be down but is not really 'bout that life

I know that is what the character was supposed to be but the execution was not there. She barely raises an objection over any of the worst actions the other girls commit such as robbing the diner and hell she is there snorting lines too. She never mentions hey this guy is super creepy to give some kind of warning just a general things are not right.

Conscience doesn't necessarily have to be overtly schoolmarmish and finger wagging. She's just the 'good' one, in juxtaposition to the others that her church friends warned about, although that doesn't fully sink in with her until she leaves.

She can't object to the diner because she doesn't know about it after the fact, and the desire to get away combined with her alienation from the church group overrides her hesitation. When later faced with the real details of their robbery, she's clearly revolted but doesn't have the balls to bail because at this point she's already 'seduced' her idealistic take of their experience. The arrest and their meeting with Alien are her disillusionment, she finally realizes that she doesn't belong with the rest of the girls.

That's the idea at least. How much of it works is debatable. But considering all this (and the whole plot in general) is just a skeletal frame for draping stylistic flourish, enough of it stuck imo to justify her presence.

[Employee]

Wildly entertaining; James Franco is one of America's best character actors working today.

Fitting that PopeyeJones and Omni would hate everything about it.

[PopeyeJones]

James Franco is one of America's best character actors working today.

High Level Trolling.

TBF I did get a huge kick out of the decision to not edit out Franco breaking and laughing during Alien's OCD listing of his stuff in his bedroom.

(FWIW I also made the conscious decision to interpret that scene as a homage to The Jerk, even though I know it obviously wasn't, just cuz it was much more fun to interpret it that way).