Film Gummo

[lostNfound]

I just watched Gummo.
Worst movie I have ever seen.
Filmed in Xenia, Ohio.
This film just scared me away from ever visiting the place.


"Some films are hailed at film festivals as the greatest thing ever. Some deserve it, others, in my humble opinion, do not. I looked forward to viewing Gummo for two reasons. First, it stared Chloe Sevigny, an actress whose work I have always greatly enjoyed. Second, it was written and directed by Harmony Korine whose powerful script for the Larry Clark film, ‘Kids’ blew me away. Unfortunately, the film did not live up to my expectations. The main focus of the story, what there is of it, is two boys, Tummler (Nick Sutton) and Solomon (Jacob Reynolds) who torture and kill cats, sell them to a grocery and use the proceeds to finance their glue sniffing habit. Then there are the girls, Darby (Darby Dougherty) and Dot (Chloe Sevigny). Dot teaches Darby how to increase the size of her nipples by taping the nipples with black tape and ripping it off. This small town is one that the Jerry Springer show would look down upon. There is even a black, gay little person. Next there is bunny boy (Jacob Sewell) who runs around in his underwear with a bunny rabbit ears on his head. This town bemoans the tragedy some twenty years prior that swept through the town. Unfortunately, it did not completely destroy the town.

from http://hometheaterinfo.com/gummo.htm

 

[Tanuki_23]

shouldnt this be moved to film discussion?

 

[mariacallas]

yep.

 

[slitherbug]

scary that you were ever contemplating visiting there in the first place.

 

[axl blaze]

hey any movie that has sniffin' glue in it is a-ok by my standards.

but seriously, you would have to be insane to visit the wasteland of Ohio known as Xenia.

 

[mariacallas]

Rest assured, it is never too late for the cinematic medium to hit a new low.

The bottom rung of the moviegoing ladder, which has been littered with such lonely disgraces as "Caligula" (1980) and "I Spit On Your Grave" (1978), must now make room for "Gummo," the atrocious and horrendously pretentious new "film" from Harmony Korine. Apparently, Korine needed more than the fifteen minutes of fame he garnered for writing the screenplay for "Kids" (1995), Larry Clark's effective, but overpraised examination of disillusioned youth in New York City.

"Gummo" represents everything that can possibly be bad about a movie. It revels in the filth and squalor of the worst variations of human existence, without giving any true insight or understanding about the predicaments of its pathetic characters. Some have (laughably) called the movie an attack on bourgeois taste and values, but one doesn't need to look so high. "Gummo" is an all-out assault on fundamental human decency, and worst of all, it's not funny, interesting, or in the least bit entertaining. It has a sort of curious shock value for all of ten minutes, then it just bogs down into its own rut of grotesqueries.

The movie is filled with slightly related vignettes that take place in the small, dilapidated town of Xenia, Ohio, all of whose residents are either uneducated rednecks, morally depraved children, or the mentally incapacitated. "Gummo" opens with shaky home video footage of a tornado that hit Xenia in 1974, which I suppose is intended to explain why the town is a spiritual wasteland -- the tornado must have blown away all forms of intellect, decency, and humanity.

Throughout the film's seemingly endless duration, we are introduced to several recurring characters going about their sad, daily routines. First we see Bunny Boy (Jacob Sewell), a scrawny, bare-chested youth who wears pink rabbit ears on his head (Why? you might ask. Why not?). During the opening credits we get to watch him pissing and spitting off a bridge onto the cars below him. How insightful.

Then we move on to Solomon (Jacob Reynolds) and Tummler (Nick Sutton), two freakish-looking teenagers who ride their bikes around the neighborhood, looking for stray cats to kill and sell to the local restaurant supplier. Solomon is a short kid with a head and face that look two sizes too big for his body. Tummler, who is tall and lanky with peach-fuzz sideburns, is played by Nick Sutton, who Korine first saw on an episode of "Sally Jesse Raphael" about kids who sniff spray paint.

I think everybody associated with "Gummo" has been sniffing a lot of spray paint, especially the self-professed 23-year-old "artist" responsible for writing and directing it. Of course, Korine is not content to sit behind the camera (even though his name appears three time larger than any one else's during the opening credits), so he appears in one pathetic scene as a drunken kid making clumsy, homosexual advances on a black dwarf. The movie also features several people who are mentally challenged in some way, including one girl with Down's Syndrome and another woman who is rented out by her husband (Max Perlich) as a prostitute to the neighborhood kids.

The most sickening thing about "Gummo" is not what transpires on-screen; there have been other movies far more repugnant than this one (try Pasolini's "Salo"), and it really isn't good enough to be morally reprehensible. What makes the film so nauseating is Korine's pretension that this is some kind of new art form that he has privileged us with. You only need to hear him in one interview to understand how full of himself he really is.

Just as a sampling, here are his thoughts on film schools, which incidentally have produced such real filmmakers as Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone, Francis Ford Coppola, and Steven Spielberg: "I hate that shit. It's eating the soul of cinema. Filmmaking has become like a process, and it's all garbage. All these rich kids who were going to be doctors now want to be filmmakers, but they have very little life experience and they're just writing really shitty wit for each other."

According to Korine, "Gummo" represents a "new kind of film with a new kind of syntax." That statement is about as ridiculous as the fact that producer Cary Woods (who actively defends the film) actually managed to scrape together $1.3 million to get this film made.

For those under the misconception that they're seeing something original or groundbreaking in "Gummo," that Korine has somehow recaptured "the soul of cinema," let me clear a few things up. Todd Browning learned the value of using human oddities for cinematic shock value way back in 1932 when he made "Freaks." "Boldly" mixing film stocks is nothing new. John Schlesinger did that back in 1969 with "Midnight Cowboy," and Oliver Stone has been making it his stock and trade for the last decade. And making fun of poor white trash has been a staple of television talk shows and tabloid newspapers for years. Even the gross-out factor is old. John Waters pioneered that back in '72 with "Pink Flamingos," and at least he was smart enough to do it with a sense of humor.

Simply put, there's nothing new here. This is not an experimental film. It's pointless garbage.

hahahahhahahahahahah

http://www.qnetwork.com/?page=review&id=360

 

[captainballs]

Giving this film a review is too much - it doesn't even deserve one. The truth is this: Gummo was boring. Very very very boring... and just gay and pretentious. Fuck, I'm starting to write a review.

 

[xena]

this'll definitely get moved to film discussion eventually.

regardless, i'm going to be different here and say that i really liked gummo. i liked the low-budgetness, the weird characters, the bizarre situations, etc.

 

[vibr8tor]

yuck. that's all I have to say about the movie.

 

[bowdenta]

heres what rotten tomatoes has to say about it. not good

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gummo/

 

[The Liberal Media]

not one i would rewatch, once was enough,but im glad i saw it ,but erm seeing a kid take a bath in spaghetti or a drunk guy hit on his black dwarf bf or a guy pimp out his retarded wife , was interesting to say the least, and ill never look at phyllis diller in the same way again , "julien donkey boy" is a much better movie by the same director, intersting to note anthony keidis and flea introduced it when it was on the IFC, saying it was thier fave movie. here is a better review, although im not sure about that last sentence , lol....


Sorry folks, I know popular opinion is that Harmony Korine is a pretentious, lying, untalented slab o'fetid meat, but the fact of the matter is that if he wasn't such a fuckknuckle, we'd be comparing him to the much less noisy, just as enigmatic and hard to understand David Lynch as an erratic artiste. Okay, so Kids was a crock, but at least it tried to do something different, you've got to give it that much. But with Gummo, Korine demonstrates that unlike in the days of Deliverance where the inbred hillbilly's lived tucked out of the way in the deep woods, as we approach the new millenium they've taken to the suburbs.
How much of this is Korine's fantasy world and how much is real? Who are the actors and who are the shirtless and shoeless freaks who just happened to be passing a camera? What does it all mean? Does it mean anything?

Forget any theory on plot. There's no plot here. Gummo is a series of grabs of the worst that Korine assesses American society has to offer, and despite the lack of storyline or big finish, the flick does manage to leave an impression. It's disturbing shit, not likely to bring forth a pleasant opinion from the casual viewer, but to someone looking hard for originality and new concepts, Gummo is a find.

Filled with characters that range fron a shirtless accordion playing skateboarding boy in big pink rabbit ears, to a young girl who wants to be Burt Reynolds, to an eyebrow shaving spazzo, to a black midget, there's nobody here you'd admit to knowing, but you've seen them around. They're the ones you get dirty looks from as you pass them coming out of the liquor store. They're those ratty kids at the end of the street who always look like they're about to steal your car. They're trash of the white variety, and as education standards drop and parenting standards nosedive, they become closer and closer to the norm.

It's said that it takes a certain level of insanity to reach the levels of genius. Harmony Korine definitely has the nuttiness, but the genius may be some way off yet.

Let's be straight, Korine is a total nutbar. He's lost any grip he ever had on reality and lives in his own little fantasy world, but in that world, this stuff makes sense to him. Just as we can watch Lynch's Lost Highway or Eraserhead and not have a clue what's going on, but enjoy the visions and streaming consciousness for their uniquity regardless, so too can someone who doesn't demand a traditional storyline sit back and enjoy the tourist ride of the national underbelly that is Gummo. It means nothing, it goes nowhere, but it makes you realise that not everybody holds sanity as sacred.

There is no world like this, where all folks are freaks and nobody has the slightest use for the brain they were born with. But there are people like that in our world, and when you're walked through their universe, it ain't a pleasant journey.

Just thank god their welfare cheques aren't large enough for them to own computers.

http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=475

 

[LiquidMethod]

I thought it was worth watching, and was very surprised to see Mark Gonzales (pro skateboarder) appearing in it. I think he throws a chair around in one scene.

but yea, fucked up shit.

 

[The Liberal Media]

BTW its set in Xenia,OH, but was filmed in Nashville,TN where Korine grew up

 

[wanderlust]

film: gummo

vote now

 

[smotpoker]

I actually lived in Xenia for 4 years. I still live withing walking distance to it.
I went to high school there for 1 one of them. The director obviously hasn't been to Xenia, he must have just gotten those ideas from his own sick desires and lusts, I guess.
Xenia is nothing like this movie portrays it as. Kind of an assholish thing to make a movie like this and use Xenia as the city IMO.

I'll admit that there are definitely some parts of Xenia that are trashier than others, but so what. There are tons of city's ( Lima, Middletown, Dayton) that are like that.

Still, it was a pretty interesting movie, very bizarre characters, I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more if the director hadn't picked on my hometown, it kinda hurt my feelings a little but

 

[The Liberal Media]

I actually lived in Xenia for 4 years. I still live withing walking distance to it.
I went to high school there for 1 one of them. The director obviously hasn't been to Xenia, he must have just gotten those ideas from his own sick desires and lusts, I guess.
Xenia is nothing like this movie portrays it as. Kind of an assholish thing to make a movie like this and use Xenia as the city IMO.

I'll admit that there are definitely some parts of Xenia that are trashier than others, but so what. There are tons of city's ( Lima, Middletown, Dayton) that are like that.

Still, it was a pretty interesting movie, very bizarre characters, I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more if the director hadn't picked on my hometown, it kinda hurt my feelings a little but

i dont he did that on purpose, i read an interview where he said he just looked at a map and it was the first town he saw so he set it there,kinda the middle america thing, he wanted the town to be " anytown, usa"

heres a cool bit i found written by gus van sant

Venomous in story; genius in character; victorious in structure; teasingly gentle in epilogue; slapstick in theme; rebellious in nature; honest at heart; inspirational in its creation and with contempt at the tip of its tongue, Gummo twists across the screen like an antic fried chicken wing. If the cast of cute and creepy southern high school parking lot legends were asked, "What happened to this year’s cinema?" they would say "it’s okay, it’s in here with us," with a Children of the Damned glow in their eye.

Harmony Korine has come up with a completely original creation, as far as I can tell. To categorize it would be hard because it is so new, there would have to be a new category. There are so many influences running through Gummo: Herzog, Cassavetes, Arbus, Fellini, Godard, Maysles, Jarman - that a chainsaw couldn’t cut it. There are also anti-influences like MTV, movie censorship, blockbuster movies, middle-class life - that linger as remnants in the rubble of the tornado-like Gummo.

I think that the people who are really going to become attached to this film are the young because they will be the ones who will understand where Harmony is coming from. Made by a young person speaking to young people through a sophisticated and refined cinematic dialogue of modern cultural influences.

Like Larry Clark did when he made Kids, Harmony causes us to wonder, "what are we watching exactly? are these real people, is there a script? what is that, who are they?" Made in Cassavetes-like improv-seeming-but-with-script style but using Herzog-like non-actors almost exclusively, the point of view of the characters and the point of view of the camera are a blur in the same way that the script, actors and director become a blur when the film was created, so I assume. In this way Harmony has picked up some of Larry’s tricks. The viewer becomes more than a voyeur, but a participant, or a mute presence among the characters.

As a twenty-three-year-old it is interesting that among Harmony’s favorite writers are James Thurber, S. J. Perleman and Flannery O’Connor. He is also a Godard-nut having seen every Godard work. He is a popular culture know-it-all as well. He might hand a friend a copy of a Shags recording and say, "listen to this, it may change your life," knowing that indeed an obscure recording of a strange rock band experiment can in fact change your life - in the same way that Gummo has changed my life after I have seen it.

A good film makes me rethink the very process by which I think films are made. It is a very good film that makes me want to emulate it - and Gummo both makes me rethink the film making process and makes me want to create a film that is just like it. I feel somewhat the same way that middle aged pro golfers must feel when they watch the twenty-one year old Tiger Woods play the game of golf. They want to go out and play like that too!

 

[smotpoker]

I also think the theory that he just picked a random city on the map is total bullshit. How would he know that Xenia had a devastating tornado in the 70's? You wouldn't just make that up, and it coincidentaly be right. Gimme a break.

 

[The Liberal Media]

I also think the theory that he just picked a random city on the map is total bullshit. How would he know that Xenia had a devastating tornado in the 70's? You wouldn't just make that up, and it coincidentaly be right. Gimme a break.

here is what he has to say, good interview also

"With Gummo I wanted to create a new viewing experience with images coming from all directions. To free myself up to do that, I had to create some kind of scenario that would allow me to just show 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, or end, and it upsets me when things are tied up so perfectly. There had been a tornado in Xenia in 1974, and I decided to set the film there. After the tornado, people found dogs up in trees and playing cards that had been blown through brick walls. I heard about this one guy on a paper route who was sucked up by the twister and dropped off, still on his bicycle, fifty miles away, and the only injury he had was a scratch on his forehead"



.http://www.harmony-korine.com/paper/...ne/whammo.html

 

[Pct]

I love this movie. Me and my friends watch it every now and then for a good laugh.

"I hate rabbits. They smell like piss!"

 

[michael]

shit, xenia's not that bad. it's not like it's beaver creek or huber heights.