Gummo

If the misguided teenager standing in the middle of a desolate road in a tornado stricken Ohio town, resembling a nymphlike skateboarder wearing pink rabbit ears, is enough to make you stick around... Well, then, the film has already done its job.

It is essentially this twisted sense of enjoyment the audience can relate to that makes Gummo a modern cult classic. Deemed the indie exploitation film of the late ‘90s, this work of art is still holding strong 13 years later with its "white trash nightmare" status.

Harmony Korine struck trailer-park gold when he wrote the screenplay for another indie classic, Kids, in 1995. The film was highly controversial for its provocative characters and immoral story line. In his directorial debut, Korine heads into similar territory and proves that conformity and big budgets mean nothing to him when it comes to good filmmaking.

Kids took a more documentary style approach, complete with a narrative and central characters. It used continuous offensive dialogue to connect each story line. With Gummo we see a completely different direction. While it appears that there is no narrative plot, Korine decided to tie the film together with random scenes depicting the desperation of several characters after they've survived a tornado that destroyed half of their small, lower-class, boring town of Xenia, Ohio.

We follow two teenagers named Solomon and Tummler who appear more distraught and eccentric in each bizarre scenario they are contemplating. It's primarily the disturbing nature in which these characters live their lives that surprisingly holds the film together—killing cats, sniffing glue, and any other nihilistic pastime that may concur. The film's most controversial representation comes from a prostitute played by a woman with Down syndrome, who is pimped by her brother.

As the film progresses, we see no sign of anybody making attempts to better their lives. It is almost as if the world has stopped in Xenia, and Solomon and Tummler have surrendered. They've become the sadistic torch bearers of this roach-infested dump of a town and they're loving every moment of it.

Jacob Reynolds and Nick Sutton play the two boys and round out one of the most disturbing and notoriously filthy casts ever filmed. Analyze Jacob's performance in the "bathtub" scene where Solomon's hair is being washed. He devours spaghetti and is fed a chocolate bar all at the same time. His sloth-like mannerisms, as well the complete absurdness of the scene, is disturbing to watch. It is these such scenes, however, that provide the key premise--realism. With its refusal to compromise any scene for audience approval, it is the actual disapproval that we like here.

Although distraught, there's an innocence there that prevails with these troubled youths through out the entire film. You want to laugh. You want to cry. You want to scream. But  in essence, you still want to like them.

Big Love's Chloe Sevigny appears for a few brief stints as Dot, the leader of a sister trio thriving to be strippers. This film was the beginning of her formulated indie collection that she became known for (Kids, The Last Days of Disco, Boy's Don't Cry, and Party Monster).

Whether you call him genius or freak, (you can ask critics and....
diences at the Toronto Film Festival that stormed the theater) Harmony Korine, undoubtedly has created an original masterpiece here complete with enough authenticity to pack a major wallop that hits you hard in the gut.

While fascism, exploitation, reckless irresponsibility, and immortality  provide the initial controversy that made the film notorious, it's those same qualities that give the film it's unique amazing platform and let it shine.

If you've stomached my review so far, haven't fled the scene, or written off any of your friends that have seen the film, then I assure you, seeing the film will be worth it.    

The authenticity shown is not comparable and I haven't seen it in any film since this one. What a community will do when they're left with nothing is as equally disgusting as it is heartbreaking. Gummo takes you into the world of last resorts...where not knowing any better is a staple of life.