Gummo
(1997)
"I
had to create some sort of scenario that would allow
me to show just scenes, which is all I care about.
I can't stand plots because I don't feel life has
plots; There is no beginning, middle, and end. And
it upsets me when things are tied up so perfectly."
- Harmony Korine
Harmony Korine wrote "Kids," Larry Clark's amazing
look at urban juvenile sexuality in the generation
of AIDS. Next, Korine got to direct his own film,
"Gummo," a look at suburban disaffected youth. Their
boredom, sexuality, and complete dissatisfaction with
existence is played out throughout the film. It's
ab surrealist masterpiece.
And while "Gummo" may share the "cinema verite" feel
of "Kids," it breaks from "reality" and becomes surrealism
at it's cinematic finest. Korine paints a vision of
modern life that is harsh and disquieting. It's as
if he turned over a rock in the garden of man and
took a lingering close-up look at what is hidden
under there. "Gummo" is repugnant and disturbing.
It screams at the top of it's lungs in the quietist
of whispers. It is the voice of youth terrified into
boredom, youth gone mad into complacency, America
shaken into utter sedentary lifelessness. But Korine's
film isn't angry or exploitive or angst-ridden. In
some ways it is an ode to life. It shows us pictures
of these characters that seem odd and unusual, often
brutal, and does not judge them. "Gummo"
simply exposes the bugs that crawl under the rocks.
It is your decision whether they are disgusting or
fascinating.
Korine
uses several symbols to represent his ideas. In the
film, the teenage boys hunt and kill stray cats and
sell them to the local butcher for his customers who
use the meat. These boys have no moral center so the
killing and torturing of cats means nothing to them.
The killing of cats represents the complete lack of
morality or spirituality in their lives. It underscores
their complete inability to comprehend existence.
Korine juxtaposes this against the teenage females
in his film who have a pet cat and even put out flyer
when it is lost. They may be considered more "righteous"
and humane here but they are also shown to be naive
and ripe for exploitation. Their innocence, of course,
is sullied by a pervert who uses the lost cat as a
ruse to get them alone and tries to molest them. More
in tune with reality then the boys, they are able
to fight back. One wonders if the boys here, faced
with the same situation, might be easily coerced into
the grips of this "stranger."
While the female youths may be considered differently
from their male counterparts, the female elders
are not. There are scenes in the film between the
main character Solomon (a interesting looking Jacob
Reynolds) and his mother (Linda Manx) which are disturbing
and surreal. The mother actually pulls a gun on the
boy at one point commanding him to smile. This woman
has no clue how to be a mother or how to relate to
her child. Later she feeds him as he baths (in filthy
water). The scene is ripe with sexual undertones as
she washes the boys hair while he eats a chocolate
bar. It's is troublesome and eerie.
Korine sets his film in Xenia, Ohio, a town that was
ravaged by tornadoes years ago. Tornadoes represent
the chaos of everyday existence. His characters live
in a town that is constantly in turmoil. There is
no consistency here and therefore, no reason for faith
or hope or love. The settings are full of trash and
decay. The homes of the characters are full of trash
and useless belongings - and cockroaches. These characters
have no homes, they have store houses full of useless
garbage. A trash heap is as much a home to these kids
as these dwellings.
Korine's characters are phenomenal. Using several
friends and non actors in roles, Korine paints a picture
of small town existence that is filled with skinheads,
ex-cons, pimps and idiots. His pubescent teen males
are cast into their new world of confusing feelings
and left to figure it all out for themselves. His
characters know nothing of sex and they struggle to
find themselves sexually. In the film there burgeoning
sexuality is reflected in scenarios where two boys
go to a slightly retarded prostitute, a boy is
shown to be a drag queen and when another boy goes
through his porn magazines, he finds a gay one. Another
scene finds two young boys accusing another of being
a queer and a faggot, words these young antagonists
probably barely understands. All of this is set against
a world of adults who do nothing to help these children
understand their place in the sexual arena.
The males engage in fights and arm wrestling,
even dragging the females into it. The adults here
are as confused and trouble by there sexuality as
the teens are. This is expressed in a segment where
two men (one Korine, another a black dwarf) struggle
to come together for a simple hug. It is also important
to note that in the film no normal relationship between
a man and a woman exists. The film shows only single
parents and often describes characters (fathers and
brothers) who have "went away" making us wonder where
they went away to. The tornado of life may have taken
them away.
The
acting here, often stark and striking improvisations
by non-actors, is awesome. Korine frequently seems
to simply let the camera roll and then edits the best
parts together for us. The film is full of voice-overs
and odd audible pieces often coupled with seemingly
unrelated film segments using a multitude of film
stock. Super 8, video and 32mm film are all used in
these surreal jaunts Korine takes us through. His
actors, whether on screen or speaking off screen,
are superb. They bring such realism and such profound
depth to these characters that even momentary glimpses
into their lives can leave lasting impressions. Korine's
camera, manned by respected cinematographer
Jean-Yves Escoffier, captures the utter despair and
the tragic existence of these characters. This is
constantly contrasted with images of dead cats which
continue to sicken the viewer yet shows continue to
show no signs of engendering a reaction from
the characters.
In "Gummo," Korine has a character of a young teenage
boy (Jacob Sewell) who romps through the film in nothing
but sneakers, a pair of shorts and a pink headdress
topped by bunny ears. He represents innocence. He
begins the film for us, by doing a purely innocent
boy activity, hanging out on an overpass walkway,
spitting and pissing on the cars which pass below.
He flexes his muscles for us. Later in the film, he
is confronted by two ignorant boys who curse constantly
and kill him with their play rifles, as innocence
lies dead in their presence, they continue to curse
him and call him degrading names. Eventually, he is
shown, recovered, playing the accordion, kissing a
couple of girls and seeming to be happy. At the end
of the film, however, he approaches the camera with
a dead cat. Innocence is about to be lost.
In the end of Korine's film, there is only one character
who is unaffected by all that goes on around her.
Only one character who has any sense of spirituality
or innocence left. And that character is a retarded
girl.
Note: Also with Nick Sutton as Tummler. Chloe Sevigny
("Kids" star and Korine's lover who also did costumes
here), and Max Perlich
Edited by Christopher Tellefsen. Randall Poster is
the Music Supervisor. Pop songs by Roy Orbison,
Buddy Holly, Madonna, Sleep, and Spazz. T-shirts are
worn with logos of Poison and Krokus, and someone
is shown etching the logo for Slayer into their skin.
A scene where the retarded girl shaves her eyebrows
seems an homage to Salvador Dali's classic surrealist
film, "Un Chien Andalu."
The scene where the "party" evolves into a orgy of
smashing furniture was improvised with only Escoffier
in the room with a camera. Even Korine waited outside
while filming went on. Korine later expressed his
dissatisfaction with crew members who insisted on
wearing protective gear when filming in some of the
seedier houses. Korine and Escoffier wore shorts and
sandals on the sets these days as a reaction to this.
Of the 40 speaking roles in the film, only 4 were
performed by SAG actors.
Korine cast Sutton after seeing him on the TV talk
show with Sally Jesse Raphael. Sutton was on a show
about recovered drug addicted kids. He told Korine
he was on acid when he did the show.
Korine first saw Reynolds in a doughnut commercial.
Filmed in Nashville, Tennessee, Korine's hometown.
Korine supposedly used the docterine of
Dogma 95 in making the film.
