Directed by: Harmony Korine
Starring: James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens
Grade: A-
Who would've thunk it? Harmony Korine has made a critical and financial success of a film, without sacrificing any artistic integrity (eat your heart out David Gordon Green). Spring Breakers is by far his most accessible film, and his most fun, a trend he started with his contribution to the 4th Dimension with Val Kilmer. Spring Breakers is a burn it to the ground, scathing satire of the hedonistic pop culture world we live in, and the neon bikini wearing sheep who are doing nothing but imitating what they vaguely think MTV told them to do. But the beauty of it is that it's so brilliantly disguised by Korine's mad cap, hallucinatory avant-garde style, that most of the people who see it who are anything like those portrayed, will only think that it's just badass. Since Korine has freed himself of the dogme 95 rules, and is now playing with the idea of doing something more than just simply provoking his audience, he is showing some real flair.
Spring Breakers is plot-lite, but style heavy. Four college girls want to go to Florida for spring break. The only one that stands out is Disney girl Selena Gomez, because she is given a backstory of being the virginal churchgoer. She will spend most of the movie crying before heading home in the second act. Hudgens is the most vicious, but the other three are more or less interchangeable, that being the point I think. They don't have enough money to get to Florida, so what do they do? Call it quits and stay at school? No, they're sick of seeing the same thing. So they do what any reasonable student would do; they rob a chicken shack with water pistols and a mallet. And that is where it all begins...
In a beautiful continuous tracking shot we see the surprisingly violent robbery take place. Then they're off to spring break. From the opening scene we are presented with slow-mo boobs, beer, and party. A scene of utter debauchery and chaos is created. It's a sort of paradise for the stressed out kids, and indeed for a while it is. They drink, they party, they ride scooters. They're at the beach. Scene after scene, everyone is having such a good time. Until they're arrested at a party that gets a little out of control. Enter Alien. A local drug dealer/rapper bails them out. Played by James Franco covered in tattoos, a platinum grill, and cornrows, this instantly becomes Alien's movie.
And this is where things get interesting. This is why spring break is only a week. The girls talk about wanting spring break to last forever. How they really found themselves. How they wish they could just pause it and live like this forever. Well, Alien is a person who lives like that forever. Played with no interest in self-preservation (I don't think Franco has that instinct) but also without they self-awareness that has been plaguing Franco's work the last few years. It's his best performance since 127 Hours, and top three best performance, along with his character in Milk. Alien is the MTV lifestyle epitomized. He has a 3 minute monologue where he incessantly repeats "Look at my shit" while showing the girls his guns, cash, and other admittedly impressive displays of wealth. He has Scarface on repeat.
Through him the girls learn the true meaning of the repeated-like-a-mantra phrase "Spring break 4-eva." The rob, steal, injure, have sex, get high, drink, and party all day. It's the american dream. The fun never stops. Except it does, and this is where Korine's penchant for prodding his audience comes through. As the "fun" begins to become tiresome, dangerous, and repetitive, so does the film. With lines of dialogue being repeated, layered over the top of scenes reshot from different angles, as the girls lose themselves, so do we lose our grip on reality. Each scene change is accentuated by a gimmicky gun shot or cocking, colors are over-saturated, slow motion, images become distorted. Suddenly naked women become repulsive. A gangstered out Alien sings a Britney Spears song while playing the piano as the girls sing along, holding assault rifles and masked in pink ski-masks.
It culminates in a scene of violent decadence, as if Korine just wanted to take a shot at the rap music video world. Interspersed with the two remaining girls making confessional phone calls home, saying how they want to be better, reminds me of a comic book I once read. The main character asks, "how do you know you want to be a good person unless you've done the worst thing possible, and then chosen to be good?" These girls have done that, found themselves by losing themselves. And perhaps Korine has as well.
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