Even his most outwardly "surreal" work, Spring Breakers, is grounded in a very identifiable reality. I think Korine is a lot more interested in fairy tales than his detractors give him credit for, and it seems like the people who label his films as "surreal" are mistaking that for the ethereal, almost dream-like quality that runs through all of his work. For instance, I revisited Gummo this week (which is probably my favorite movie of all time) and I almost forgot how sweet and likable a lot of the movie is if you don't get caught up too much on the setting. His films absolutely depict cruelty, but I think his approach to the subject matter is usually pretty gentle and empathetic. Maybe I'm desensitized to his films having seen them all more than once, but I've never considered Harmony Korine to be a particularly cruel or shocking writer/director. I almost think the movie would be better without it, as the story and characters that exist outside of that sphere are much more interesting than the illness subplot. Thinking back, I don't think of it as an AIDS movie or a film about people with this disease. Korine has said before that the AIDS aspect was a hook that Larry Clark gave him to make the movie more marketable, and that he considered it to be an ancillary element of what was otherwise a very straightforward and linear story, and I would have to agree. It's all very true to what I saw and how I felt during that time in my life. You end up hanging in big groups and you know some of the people better than others. Breaking into parks and pools, grimy parties where some kids are there to have fun and some kids are there to get as fucked up as humanly possible. Drinking after school in Washington Square was pretty standard behavior. I came of age almost 20 years later, but ended up hanging around the same places the characters did in the movie. I think everyone gets caught up in the graphic nature of the film, as opposed to seeing the artistic beauty of it all- these are problems kids have had for eons that no one ever wants to talk about.Īt the risk of sounding biased, I think KIDS is one of the most accurate depictions of New York City youth I've ever seen in any movie. Harmony Korine captured teenage angst full caliber, but in the beautiful, complicated way that teenage years tend to feel. My teens were tame, lazy upper middle-class suburban life, yet I related to all of these characters one way or another. The first time I watched it, I was appalled by how graphic it was and felt sort of creepy about seeing actual teenagers portrayed in these situations (I’m 20F), but after watching it in full and letting it settle in I haven’t been able to think about any other movie since. The reality of the characters, the sobering look at what happens to children left unattended, the immaculate vibe of 90s urban NYC. I fell in love with it in the weirdest way possible, because I’m not sure this is a movie that’s socially acceptable to be one’s favorite if you get what I mean.
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