Spring Breakers: Garotas Perigosas

Faith, played by Selema Gomez, and her three very close friends plan to escape their boring college dorm lives to attend a massive Spring Break party. In order to pay for their getaway, her three friends commit an unthinkable act of terror. Their Spring Break vacation turns out to be a non-stop party of drunken drug use and sexual perversion that lands them in prison. This is when Alien, played by James Franco, bails them out and a new type of party begins.

With a dub-step softcore porn music video opening sequence, it is uncertain if Spring Breakers is glorifying the demoralizing activities portrayed or if it is a satire. Even when the film is not flashing to what looks like stock footage of a Girls Gone Wild Spring Break special and we are with the girls, the framing seems to have been done by a sex addict. This will be one of the most uncomfortable experiences Selema Gomez's fans will ever experience. For parents, this will be an absolute nightmare. Younger male audiences, on the other hand, will think they've found their new favorite movie. When the girls are introduced to Alien the film feels like it gets a new director. The feeling of a Girls Gone Wild narrative feature film is lost and we are filled with a great sense of dread. Who is this guy who calls himself Alien? We even find ourselves afraid to find out what he has planned for these young girls he has bailed out of prison.

As we continue through the second half of the film, it becomes very clear that we are in fact watching a satire. A horrific and effective satire. This is done though exposing the character of Alien and much credit must be given to James Franco, this is him at his best. Through the course of the film we go from fearing him, to laughing at him, to feeling sorry for him. The film is worth watching just for Franco's performance. The girls do an excellent job as well. These are easily two of the most frightening female characters ever put on-screen.

Spring Breakers is written and directed by Harmony Korine, the writer of Kids and director of Gummo. If you've seen anything he has written or directed you already know what you are in for. It has the core of a Natural Born Killers story wrapped in layers of what would be if Terrence Malick directed Girls Gone Wild.

What ends up becoming an annoying distraction is the repetition of dialogue we hear over and over again, playing in a loop. It's understood we are in the girl's shoes, things are spiraling out of control and the editing helps get that across. Some of it works but in the end, we've heard the same things so many times it is as if Korine is hammering the message of his satire into our heads, almost desperate to prove it has a point. Through the story it's meaning is made clear, no reason to over-use certain Malick-like editing techniques to over-state what the story has already made obvious.

The core story is genius. The way in which the story is told is split between things that play out like a master at work and a new filmmaker still experimenting.

Spring Breakers (2012)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Four college friends don't have the money for spring break so three of them decide to hold up a restaurant. Now with the money they head down to Florida to drink and experience life but soon they run into a gangster (James Franco) and their future hits a bumpy road. I understand SPRING BREAKERS is getting mixed reviews but I'm going to just flat out say that I hated the picture. I thought it was a rather confusing mess with unlikeable and annoying characters, a horrid story and an ending that's so bad that I really wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. Director Harmony Korine makes 90% of the film about style as we get all sorts of strange camera shots, bizarre editing and slow motion shots of bodies giggling and for the life of me I can't understand the point. It certainly doesn't add anything to the story but I will admit it was a "new" way to tell this type of story. With that said, just because it's new doesn't mean it's good and in fact it's just downright annoying. Even worse is the so-called story, which I've heard from some was supposed to be a satire while others appear to be taking it very serious. To me it wasn't clear what the director was trying to do with the material but if we were supposed to like these characters that certainly doesn't happen. I'd say they're all rather hate worthy but at the same time if we were supposed to hate them then the film really lets all of them off easy. The ending was just a downright joke and whatever "meaning" we're supposed to take from it is even worse. The film's selling point seems to be the "Disney Girls Gone Wild" aspect as Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Heather Morris all tease up the screen. Performance wise they're fine but their characters are just so bad who cares about anything else? Franco chews up the scenery as if he's the son of Max Cady (the Robert DeNiro character in CAPE FEAR) but it's hard to take the character too serious. Again, I understand some are finding deep, haunting meanings to this film but to me it's just a complete joke from start to finish. If you want to see a much better movie about social media and today's culture then check out GOD BLESS America.

Harmony Korine created a cult classic for the early 2010s that captures the decade through hazy, atmospheric scenes. The film features a cast including his wife, Rachel Korine, and THREE 'It' girls-Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, and Ashley Benson-all in the midst of transitioning to R-rated projects. It encapsulates the abrasive yet optimistic tone around the time of its release, full of florescent lights, neon clothes and dubstep music.

While it has the hyper-sexualized party scenes that contemporary films like Project X were built around, Spring Breakers arthouse ambition allows it to stand out from similar-seeming films and allowing it to improve with time. As one of the first films released by A24, it is an important step in the direction that the company would follow: prioritizing artistic decision-making, not shying away from explicit content and having a dope ass lighting/color palette.

Harmony Korine is a strange one. I've seen 3 of his other films, Gummo, Mister Lonely and Julien Donkey Boy and I thought they were decent to good. I can often see what he's trying to do but its lack of character and substance hurts it. Spring Breakers is perhaps his most mainstream effort given the concept, stars and the slick production but it's probably his least interesting. With MTV style cinematography and editing, a dubstep soundtrack and drama distant from the camera, the result is an unpleasant nightmare. I'm not sure who this film is aiming at, the type of person the film is about or the art-house crowd where the the techs are the furthest to their taste? It wants to be a comment on contemporary party culture but its unrealistic characters make it unbearably tedious. Every time a character starts to becomes sympathetic, they leave the film, and far too easily at that. Why are we even trapped in this nightmare if the characters are deliberately raising the stakes? It's a film that relishes on forced juxtapositions such as singing Britney Spears over robberies and it ends up obvious or pointless, nulling its effect. I still don't really know what to make to Spring Breakers but it definitely isn't my thing.

5/10

I watched this film on Amazon Prime where its genres are listed as "comedy, drama", which does such a huge disservice to what this film is.

It is in no way a comedy at all so get that idea out of your head before you watch this film. In reality it is a dark crime drama which has an incredible tone and vibe to it.

At times tone and vibe are favoured over plot and storytelling, but having digested this film a bit I don't think I mind. There were some wildly good visuals in this film and the direction from Harmony Korine was top notch.

I loved the performances from all of the cast. Franco's character was very out there but it worked in the context of the film.

A wildly underrated film which was probably hampered by the fact that people were expecting a frat bro comedy, when in actuality this is a much more elevated and stylish affair.