“Spriiiing Breeeak” drones James Franco’s ‘Alien’ in a tone of blissed out, doped up ecstacy. Or is that tragedy? Is this what you thought spring break would be? Harmony Korine, he who was banned from David Letterman’s talk-show for trying to rob Meryl Streep’s purse, delivers the most accessible and, by turn, most impactful film of his directing career - Spring Breakers.
The story follows four drop-dead gorgeous college students, stuck in Kentucky and stuck in their teens with nowhere to go and nothing to do. Three of the girls decide that missing out on spring break and ‘life’ is just not an option, so they don ski-masks, tool up (with water-pistols) and, in a superbly understated sequence, stick-up a road-side diner. With pockets lined and bikinis on, they pick up their forth ‘spring breaker’ and head to St. Petersberg for the holiday they were always entitled to. After some of the most provocative hedonism we’re likely to see all year, the girls find themselves behind bars and for a fleeting moment have to wonder if this was really worth it. But all is not lost… Following a hilarious court hearing, they are bailed out by the preposterous ‘Alien’, a self-Made gangster who recruits them in to his world of the never-ending spring break…
There is a lot of context to Korine, all of which leads to this film. It’s what elevates Spring Breakers beyond the superficial, but thankfully is not in the least bit essential to the enjoyment of it. On the one hand, it is deliberately moronic, vapid even, and is completely nihilistic and self-destructive. But that is entirely the point and therein lies Korine’s peerless ability to write about teenagers, without condescension. This film sits within his body of work, beside the controversial tour de force that was Kids (1995), Korine’s name-making collaboration with fellow provocateur, Larry Clark. Both works brilliantly convey the at once manipulative and easily manipulated mind of a teenager, their vulnerability and their capacity for mindlessness or, rather, not knowing any better.
Spring Breakers is considerably more accessible than Korine’s previous trips behind the camera. You don’t have to be a fan to have fun with this one. And it is hella fun. Standing quite separately from his screenwriting output (the aforementioned Kids), as a director Korine has been on a mission to provoke through his films. Much like Godard before him, he likes to test his audience and the bounds of the medium, visually, narratively and socially. Spring Breakers has just the right amount of invention, challenges and bravura to make it both smooth and interesting viewing. It’s dark, it’s provocative and it’s not afraid to show the ugliness of its characters. But it’s also funny, it’s exhilarating and it doesn’t take itself at all seriously.
Played by Vanessa Hudgens, Rachel Korine, Ashley Benson and Selena Gomez, the four spring breakers possess a ferocious sexuality and they each deliver endearing, wild and brave performances, allowing themselves to be gazed upon with both perversion and subversion. But the film belongs to Franco who puts in his finest performance to date, playing a Riff Raff surrogate, the goofiest of ballers with a note perfect sense of humour that belies his street smarts. What could so easily have been a hour of Franco fooling around, is instead the most self-aware element of the film, reflecting Korine’s knowing eye for the off-kilter characters that make stories and life most interesting and, in one particular scene, we see these two creative minds come together at their best. As Faith, played with chaste innocence by Selena Gomez, tries to leave for home, Franco turns on the charm, cornering her, preying on her, trying to convince her to stay with all the flattery and faux-sincerity that he can summon. It’s an uncomfortable scene, shot in invasive close-up, that blurs that line where persuasion meets true consent. What is to one person nothing but harmless enthusiasm, a choice of words or, rather, a choice of lies, is something far more sinister to another. And this is what Korine has captured and rendered on screen time and time again - the ‘harmless’, thoughtless actions of a teenager unconcerned with consequences. More importantly, though, Korine never judges his characters for it. These things are bad, he says, but bad things happen and ‘bad’ things might be fun. When you’re young, you don’t know any better, and you have to make these mistakes to know who and what you are. Korine’s characters only answer to themselves and the glorious finale of this, perhaps his finest film, sees the girls doing just that. Spring Break forever, y’all.
The story follows four drop-dead gorgeous college students, stuck in Kentucky and stuck in their teens with nowhere to go and nothing to do. Three of the girls decide that missing out on spring break and ‘life’ is just not an option, so they don ski-masks, tool up (with water-pistols) and, in a superbly understated sequence, stick-up a road-side diner. With pockets lined and bikinis on, they pick up their forth ‘spring breaker’ and head to St. Petersberg for the holiday they were always entitled to. After some of the most provocative hedonism we’re likely to see all year, the girls find themselves behind bars and for a fleeting moment have to wonder if this was really worth it. But all is not lost… Following a hilarious court hearing, they are bailed out by the preposterous ‘Alien’, a self-Made gangster who recruits them in to his world of the never-ending spring break…
There is a lot of context to Korine, all of which leads to this film. It’s what elevates Spring Breakers beyond the superficial, but thankfully is not in the least bit essential to the enjoyment of it. On the one hand, it is deliberately moronic, vapid even, and is completely nihilistic and self-destructive. But that is entirely the point and therein lies Korine’s peerless ability to write about teenagers, without condescension. This film sits within his body of work, beside the controversial tour de force that was Kids (1995), Korine’s name-making collaboration with fellow provocateur, Larry Clark. Both works brilliantly convey the at once manipulative and easily manipulated mind of a teenager, their vulnerability and their capacity for mindlessness or, rather, not knowing any better.
Spring Breakers is considerably more accessible than Korine’s previous trips behind the camera. You don’t have to be a fan to have fun with this one. And it is hella fun. Standing quite separately from his screenwriting output (the aforementioned Kids), as a director Korine has been on a mission to provoke through his films. Much like Godard before him, he likes to test his audience and the bounds of the medium, visually, narratively and socially. Spring Breakers has just the right amount of invention, challenges and bravura to make it both smooth and interesting viewing. It’s dark, it’s provocative and it’s not afraid to show the ugliness of its characters. But it’s also funny, it’s exhilarating and it doesn’t take itself at all seriously.
Played by Vanessa Hudgens, Rachel Korine, Ashley Benson and Selena Gomez, the four spring breakers possess a ferocious sexuality and they each deliver endearing, wild and brave performances, allowing themselves to be gazed upon with both perversion and subversion. But the film belongs to Franco who puts in his finest performance to date, playing a Riff Raff surrogate, the goofiest of ballers with a note perfect sense of humour that belies his street smarts. What could so easily have been a hour of Franco fooling around, is instead the most self-aware element of the film, reflecting Korine’s knowing eye for the off-kilter characters that make stories and life most interesting and, in one particular scene, we see these two creative minds come together at their best. As Faith, played with chaste innocence by Selena Gomez, tries to leave for home, Franco turns on the charm, cornering her, preying on her, trying to convince her to stay with all the flattery and faux-sincerity that he can summon. It’s an uncomfortable scene, shot in invasive close-up, that blurs that line where persuasion meets true consent. What is to one person nothing but harmless enthusiasm, a choice of words or, rather, a choice of lies, is something far more sinister to another. And this is what Korine has captured and rendered on screen time and time again - the ‘harmless’, thoughtless actions of a teenager unconcerned with consequences. More importantly, though, Korine never judges his characters for it. These things are bad, he says, but bad things happen and ‘bad’ things might be fun. When you’re young, you don’t know any better, and you have to make these mistakes to know who and what you are. Korine’s characters only answer to themselves and the glorious finale of this, perhaps his finest film, sees the girls doing just that. Spring Break forever, y’all.
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