Movie Review: ‘SPRING BREAKERS’

Spring Break.

Harmony Korine is probably a writer & director many genre fans growing up in the late 90’s. He wrote the screenplay to Larry Clark’s Kids, which was a significant film in independent cinema due to the no-boundries attitude. He then went on to direct Gummo. Gummo was talked about by genre fans and casual film watchers who stumbled upon it and it gained notoriety due to its unconventional storytelling and characters. Korine started to give birth to a weird sub genre of independent film. While Gummo might be his debut and the film he is best known for, Spring Breakers is probably his widest release and most accessible film to date.

Faith (Selena Gomez), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), Brit (Ashley Benson) and Cotty (Rachel Korine) are four college freshmen who seem to be focused on their escape from educational normalcy to spring break. Candy, Brit and Cotty seem to be the wild ones of the bunch while Faith, ironically named given how we first meet her, seems to be the more grounded. They realize that they didn’t save enough money to survive on their own for spring break and decide that instead of earning the extra income, they will steal the money. What follows is about 30 to 40 minutes of these nubile girls drinking, getting high, being careless in a montage of scenes and images that seem like they were pulled from MTV’s Spring Break. It is only when they get busted at a hotel party does the more interesting part of the film actually start.

Spring Break.

Everything to this point is shot in warm, appealing colors. Tan bodies and warm sun. This illusion of paradise is broken once these four girls hit the slammer and at that same moment the color palette changes. These girls who just looked glamorous under the sun now look like zombies under the florescent lights in jail. They are brought to the courtroom still wearing their bikini attire. At this moment, Korine starts to set his teeth in and let his intentions be known that these girls might be in for a bumpy ride. This is when the girls meet Alien (played by an almost unrecognizable James Franco) and their world and outlook of “fun in the sun” changes.

Spraaaang Breaaak.

Alien is a true gangster. While he fantasizes about being a gangster – he runs Scarface on a loop in his bedroom – he is also fulfilling the fantasy. There is nothing fake about Alien and while three out of four of the girls become so enamored with him because he is so different than what they are used to, they really don’t take him seriously. Faith realizes that Alien is serious and this is not turning out to be the irresponsible weekend of debauchery she signed up for.

It’s obvious that Korine is dealing with fantasies of the characters in the film and, in a way, Spring Breakers is a fantasy film in many attributes. The girls want a care-free weekend. They want to party and have fun. They disconnect themselves from reality and let their bodies physically go place to place while their minds are turned off. Faith has the fantasy of being surrounded by true friends and almost fantasizes about being more like Candy, Brit or Cotty. However, Faith knows better and still has one foot firmly planted in reality which is why she is the first to escape. Alien has a fantasy of being a rap superstar. Given the one track that the audience hears, he isn’t there. Honestly, he has a long way to go even if he will ever get there. Where he differs from the girls is that he has earned where he is. Granted, he has earned it illegally but he has at least he actually earned the money he has. As we come to find out, Alien might have stepped on some toes to do this and this is where some morality is injected into the film.

Spraaaang Breaaaaak, forever.

Spring Breakers is definitely a better film in afterthought than it is when watching it. The acting in here from the ladies is pretty pedestrian. Sure, these girls probably aren’t like this in real life but it isn’t hard acting like a complete idiot either. Franco pulls in a performance that lifts the film above mediocrity. If he wasn’t in it, the film probably wouldn’t be as entertaining as it turns out to be. One has to question if Korine actually wanted to show you a fantasy or a ill-conceived tale about the underbelly of paradise. The film can be viewed either way with the former being the better option. Gangsters that can shoot one of our characters (don’t worry, that’s not a spoiler) through a car and wound her but these same gangsters cannot strike flesh in the finale makes the last 20 minutes pretty laughable. Korine has crafted a unique modern exploitation film. However, like a lot of exploitation films in the past – and this is coming from someone that digs a lot of them – it feels sort of empty. The story skims the surface on what could be a hard look at the what happens when the party stops or what college kids don’t know about but it never really does. There is a great line by Alien when the girls are bailed out where he talks about how all these college kids and scumbags come to the beach to party and trash his city. That line is quite possibly one of the best parts of the film but it is also a false start on what could have been an intriguing look at the psyche of these characters in a foreign environment. In then end, fantasy prevails and it leaves kind of a bad taste in your mouth like a poorly made alcoholic mixer of two components that just didn’t mix.

Spring Breakers starts today at Landmark’s Tivoli Theatre