By M. WILLIAM SMITH
Staff Writer
Before I get into my review, allow me to say this: Spring Breakers probably isn’t the movie you think it is. If, say, you’ve only seen the poster for the film, saw that Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens were in it, and thought, “This will be a nice family film” as you enter the theater… you’re going to be mad (especially if you brought your family along). But this isn’t a movie made for those people; this movie is better than that.
Spring Breakers is a wild, chaotic ride of debauchery, excess, sin, and greed. It’s an intense, often hilarious, sometimes terrifying look at what a few bad decisions can do to a person’s life, and how it can affect their mindset. Harmony Korine has crafted the ultimate ode to the ultimate college experience… and why that experience must never be repeated.
Korine, director of avant-garde cult films like Gummo and Trash Humpers, has built a career upon challenging his audience, almost daring them to actually like his movies. By that mark, Spring Breakers is probably his most mainstream film (certainly the one with the biggest stars, anyway), and I still wouldn’t recommend it to most of the people I know. This isn’t a remark on the film’s quality – I think it’s sort of brilliant – but rather, I just don’t think they’d be able to handle it. The film is about as in-your-face as they come, and you’ll know within the first five minutes whether you’re going to like this movie or not.
To give a basic sense of the plot, four college girls hope to go down to Florida for spring break, and commit a robbery in order to do so. When they get down in Florida, chaos ensues. I can’t say any more plot details in a review that will be published in a school newspaper, because I have a sense of decency, but things go bad—fast. The four girls are played by Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine (Korine’s daughter).
Casting the former three turns out to be one of Korine’s best decisions, as he plays upon their good-girl images culled from Wizards of Waverly Place, High School Musical, and Pretty Little Liars, respectively, to make his film more shocking as it goes on.
But the best casting decision in this film by far is James Franco, who totally immerses himself in the role of a wannabe gangster drug dealer named Alien who ends up befriending the girls. Franco scores the biggest laughs in the film as his larger-than-life character, and every word that comes out of his mouth is something that I’ll probably be quoting for months to come (so if you hang out with me, I preemptively apologize).
The editing in this film is a huge accomplishment as well, and creates something of a dreamlike state that runs throughout the whole thing. The visuals coupled with the sound design often create a very nice juxtaposition, and provide most of the film’s social commentary, as when a phone call to one girl’s grandmother is played over an excessive party scene (let’s just say this happens more than once).
The soundtrack to this film is perfectly matched to what is portrayed onscreen as well, with a score from both veteran film composer Cliff Martinez (whose score from Drive is still among the best of the last few years) and dubstep artist Skrillex (who normally I find unlistenable, but his style works incredibly well here). The two different styles create a perfect blend and a wildly erratic score, fitting for a wildly erratic film.
Many people will be upset after they walk out of Spring Breakers. What they will fail to realize is that this is exactly the point. This isn’t a film made for the mainstream, or the people who expect a fun-filled romp with their favorite Disney Channel actresses (and, judging from some of the reactions I’ve already seen on Twitter, there were seriously people like that), but for those willing to give themselves over to Korine’s cautionary tale of excess to the extreme, Spring Breakers will satisfy on every level. It’s an accomplishment worthy of celebration; let’s just keep that celebration to a quiet gathering, though.
Final Grade: A-
