Rated
R (Strong Sexual Content, Language, Nudity, Drug Use and Violence Throughout)
Running
Time: 1 Hour & 34 Minutes
Cast-
Selena
Gomez-Faith
Vanessa
Hudgens-Candy
Ashley
Benson-Brit
Rachel
Korine-Cotty
James
Franco-Alien
Gucci
Mane-Archie
Heather
Morris-Bess
Emma
Holzer-Heather
Ash
Lendzion-Forest
Cait
Taylor-Tiffany
Thurman
and Sidney Sewell-The ATL Twins
 |
| Look at all those nubile bodies...and James Franco. |
Note: At AMC Empire 25.
Ah,
the American Dream, the belief that anything is possible through hard work and
perseverance…but what if this ideal was all a lie, a cruel joke? What if the
Dream became a perversion of itself? What if the Dream turned into a nightmare?
That's the question writer/director Harmony Korine asks in his latest film,
"Spring Breakers," but one that he doesn't necessarily answer.
Labeled by some as an 'enfant terrible,' Korine's reputation among critics can
best be described as divisive and his work appeals to a very niche audience.
Many of his films, such as 1997's "Gummo" and 2009's "Trash
Humpers," abandon all forms of conventional narrative and are essentially just
a collage of random scenes and images. Although Korine largely continues this
trend with "Spring Breakers," the film also represents the director's
most 'mainstream' effort to date as it's the first to have something that
resembles a story (and a well-known cast). Aggressive, disturbing, borderline
pornographic yet also surreal, hypnotic, and oddly beautiful, Korine's film
defies any type of simple explanation. People will debate over its artistic
merits for years to come but one fact remains: "Spring Breakers" is
by far one of the most unique films of 2013.
Bored and frustrated on their
college campus in the middle of Nowhere, USA, four lifelong friends, Faith
(Selena Gomez), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), Brit (Ashley Benson), and Cotty
(Rachel Korine), are desperate to go on spring break in St. Petersburg, Florida
but are unable to afford the trip. To get the cash, they (sans Faith) decide to
rob a Chicken Shack using water pistols and a sledgehammer. With enough money
now in hand, the quartet travel to the Sunshine State by bus to join in the
weeklong festivities, which include dancing, drinking, grinding, snorting, and
other similar activities of debauchery. They quickly run out of cash and are
later arrested during a drug bust but a wannabe gangster/rapper named Alien
(James Franco) pays for their bail. Taking the girls under his wing in his
criminal empire, Alien soon realizes that spring break has brought out a dark
side within them that rivals his own.
"Spring Breakers" opens with a
scene that can best be described as a "Girls Gone Wild" video on
steroids. You hear the peaceful sounds of the beach but just when you're ready
to slip away into optimistic bliss, Harmony Korine hits you with a barrage of
images where hundreds of young men and women gyrate in slow motion to the
beating sound of dubstep, flooding their bodies with beer as everyone writhes
in orgasmic ecstasy. When a group of bikinied women start seductively sucking
on red, white, and blue popsicles, you can almost hear Korine cackling in the
background, 'This is America!' We're then introduced to our four nubile
protagonists. Although Candy, Brit, and Cotty engage in typical bad-girl
behavior, Faith is different. She's deeply religious but nonetheless shares in
her friends' restlessness. Desperate to escape the monotony of their normal
lives and go on spring break, Faith's friends rob a Chicken Shack and it's all
shot in one take from the passenger seat of a car. You catch glimpses of the
girls' dark side through the restaurant's windows but the chaos of the robbery
isn't revealed until later when Candy and Brit reenact it to frightening effect
for Faith. The first act doesn't amount to much; it's just a series of random
scenes of the four cavorting around in bikinis under the Florida sun. The
turning point arrives when gangster/rapper Alien arrives to bail the quartet
out of jail. Faith immediately has a bad feeling about him and soon exits the
picture. The remaining three are quickly enamored with Alien's excessive
lifestyle. He even has a Great Gatsby
moment (ironically, the trailer was shown in front of this film) where he shows
off his massive collection of machine guns, dope, and cash, all the while
yelling 'Look at my sh*t!' He then proclaims that this is the 'American Dream.'
At that instant, it becomes clear what Korine is trying to accomplish. It's not
exactly revelatory but the filmmaker goes about exploring the moral/cultural
decay of America in a very unique way that you can't help but admire. On the
surface, "Spring Breakers" appears to celebrate the excesses of
youth. After all, it's just kids having fun. Then the scenes at the beginning
start to repeat themselves throughout the film and you begin to realize how
vapid and empty it all is. Even the dialogue intentionally reflects this as
Faith describes the experience as 'spiritual' and how it will all 'last
forever.' The latter half takes on a surreal, dreamlike tone where Alien
believes he's found his 'soul-mates.' This culminates in him playing a cover of
Britney Spears' Everytime on piano
while Candy, Brit, and Cotty dance around like little girls while wearing pink
ski masks and wielding machine guns. Like Faith, Cotty leaves the group after
being hit with a stray bullet from a rival gang led by Alien's former best
friend Archie (Gucci Mane). In revenge, Alien, along with Candy and Brit, storm
Archie's mansion, ending the film in a violent bloodbath. Then what? Well,
you're left feeling empty as the credits roll and you soon realize that what
you really saw was a horror film. The ideals of the American Dream have been
replaced with booze, drugs, guns, and sex. There's a sense of hopelessness in
this nihilistic pursuit of happiness. Spring break forever indeed. Korine
complements "Spring Breakers" with an unusual score from Cliff
Martinez and Sonny John Moore, who is best known by his stage name 'Skrillex.'
It creates a sort of dissonant clash where Martinez leans toward a more somber
tone that wouldn't be out of place in a regular art-house film while Skrillex
is loud and savage, reflecting an America that has succumbed to their excesses.
It's definitely one of the best scores I've heard. The cinematography from
Benoît Debie (who also worked on Gaspar Noé's "Irréversible") is
beautiful as it creates a sort of hyperrealism with its neon lighting and
constant lens flare.
As for the performances, they're surprisingly good but it
is James Franco who dominates the picture. With his hair braided in cornrows
and his teeth covered in glistening silver, Franco looks ridiculous as Alien
but the character has a lot more depth than you're initially led to believe. Although
Alien may walk around throwing wads of cash while behaving like a big-shot, you'll
soon notice that it's all pretend, a façade to hide his loneliness. You can
laugh when he calls Candy and Brit his soul-mates but this guy really means it.
When he starts singing Britney Spears' Everytime
on his piano, he's bearing his soul. If it were any other actor in the role,
Alien would've been nothing more than a giant walking cartoon, derailing the
entire film in the process so Franco deserves a lot of credit for turning this
wannabe gangster into a human being. The bigger question is whether it'll
garner him a second Academy Award nomination. It's a charismatic and flat-out
insane performance but it might be a little too unconventional for Academy
voters. Still, I wouldn't discount it so soon. There's a bit of irony with the
rest of the casting. Both former Disney starlets, Selena Gomez and Vanessa
Hudgens pretty much destroy their good-girl images…or whatever's left of them.
Hudgens, along with Ashley Benson, capture their characters' rapturous carnal
fire and it's hard (no pun attended!) not to get swept up in it. Rachel Korine
(who is the wife of the director) doesn't come with the excess baggage that her
co-stars have as she doesn't seem to mind engaging in nudity with all the other
extras.
In limited release since March 15, 2013, "Spring Breakers"
has received lukewarm reviews with 70% on Rotten Tomatoes. Some critics hailed
it for blending 'stinging social commentary with bikini cheesecake' while
others wrote it off as trash. Such reactions aren't really surprising since
Korine enjoys being provocative. What I was most curious about was the
audience's reaction. As I expected, not many grasped that there was a hidden
meaning behind all the booze and sex. Instead, they simply took it at face
value. The man sitting two seats away from me seemed to be having a grand old
time! Playing at only three locations, the film has already grossed an
impressive $270,000 so it'll be interesting to see if audiences embrace it when
it opens in wide release next weekend. Leaving the theater, I wasn't initially
sure whether what I just saw was good or bad because "Spring
Breakers" can't be pigeon-holed by such narrow labels. The more I thought
about it, the more I appreciated it. Harmony Korine may give the people what
they want but with it comes the death of the American Dream, devoured by the
emptiness of consumer excess. Long live the Dream.
Final
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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