# Gummo (1997)

### reviewed by
Dennis Schwartz

GUMMO (director:Harmony Korine; writer: Harmony Korine; cinematographer: Jean Yves Escoffier; cast: Jacob Reynolds (Solomon), Nick Sutton (Tummler), Jacob Sewell (Bunny Boy), Darby Dougherty (Darby), Chloe Sevigny (Dot), Carisa Bara (Helen), Linda Manz (Solomon's Mom), Max Perlich (Cole), Bryant L. Crenshaw (Midget), 1997)

    Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

This original youth film, that has the look of a pseudo-documentary but is a work of fiction, with the nonprofessional actors seemingly changing mid-scene from reading a script to doing ad-libs, fails to answer the simple questions I put to it about what it is trying to accomplish. This is director and writer, Harmony Korine's (screenwriter for Kids), debut film as a director, accomplished with all the verve and necessary shock and schlock he can muster. What results is a pointless but engaging romp through a Midwestern fictional suburban city, Xenia, Ohio, and its dysfunctional inhabitants, mostly white redneck youth, who either seem retarded or prone to violence, as they are searching for something to do with themselves in a city still suffering from the devastations of a tornado. The film was actually shot not in Ohio but in Korine's hometown, outside Nashville, Tennessee.

The film opens to a shaky home video footage of a tornado that passed through town and killed some of its inhabitants, as we view some of the damage and hear the youngsters cursing. We then mainly follow two youngsters (the sallow looking Jacob Reynolds & Nick Sutton-discovered on a troubled teen episode of Sally Jessy Raphael) who kill cats and sell them to a supermarket that sells them to a Chinese restaurant. The rest of the time, they sniff glue, pay for sex with an older woman, and take one of their Granny's off a life support respirator, thereby killing her.

Another odd character, Jacob Sewell, plays a boy dressed in pink fluffy rabbit ears who pisses down on traffic from a bridge and walks through town playing toy gun games with some little kids, looking like he's lost his marbles. Korine is non-judgmental about any of his characters. But is that necessarily a good thing?

What saves this film from being a complete absurdity, is the raw energy exhibited by the director, as he is on the cutting edge of cinema verite, showing the pent-up hostility and alienation these trashy young people have. He seems to be painting his words with images of the most freakish things you can see in America's wasteland, and not caring whether you believe what you are seeing or not--his aim seems to be to shock the audience and for the audience to respond and say how "hip" he is to be showing us all these revolting and boring images. But is that enough to make this a satisfactory film?

His characterizations of people are all off-the-wall, such as the retarded woman who treats a doll as her baby or the albino cook who proudly says Patrick Swayze is her favorite movie actor and she would pay to have him touch her. Then there is the chubby, painted, simple-minded housewife who is sold by her husband (Max Perlich) as a prostitute to our very young protagonists. A drunk gay man (Korine) who tries to seduce an encephalitic black dwarf (Crenshaw). Two skin head teens senselessly punching it out with each other for an interminable amount of time in their kitchen for fun and macho pride. And, the sisters (Darby & Chloe), preoccupied with making their nipples grow bigger, as they put duct tape on them and then pull it off, so as to make them stick out. They are shown in another scene, fondled by a pervert, who is pretending to help them find their missing cat. But by showing all these freaks, is the director not just using them without any purpose but to exploit their oddness?

Linda Manz as Solomon's Mom, does a bizarre tap dance, and has a strange way of raising her son as single-parent--jokingly pointing a gun at him to try and get him to smile. Is this funny scene a comment on single-moms?

The film has an attention disorder disturbance of its own, as it keeps going at random from one vignette to another, without any deciferable plot or storyline, which should be a real treat for heavy metal enthusiasts with low attention spans and those who respect the personal creative nature of film and can overcome the depravity of what they are seeing and its immature fixations, and be impressed with the film's originality. For those lucky souls, they have found a film that is a rarity. But have they found a good film?

Others who might like this film, could be taken in by the audaciousness of the director's style and the fast-pace of the film and its easy disposable use of images. But to its credit, the film does capture some of the fears the youths have about growing up and it does show that there are no role models around to help the children. But does the filmmaker really care about what he is seeing?

This film will probably be viewed as one that you either hate or love, and no one can convince you otherwise. Since I was caught being in a voyeuristic mode by some of the film, then found myself tuning it out as I became bored with it; I, therefore, can only say that the film did not work for me. It is hard for me to warm up to those who kill cats, yet I wanted to see how the minds of such people work. That I found out. Their mind's don't work. Which is the problem I had with watching the film, as I felt that I didn't need a mind to see it.

This film lacked the needed pathos to make the youngsters' story seem more than a provocative freak show; it failed to offer some meaning to their life, which resulted in giving the film a disjointed look, even though Korine should be applauded for sticking to his personal vision. But, the final question is, do you think the director is really interested in showing us anything but a freak show?

    REVIEWED ON 8/22/99       GRADE: C

Dennis Schwartz: " Ozus' World Movie Reviews "

    http://www.sover.net/~ozus

    ozus@sover.net

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ

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