SPRING BREAKERS. Holy shit, I loved this film. Harmony Korine, who first broke onto the scene as the writer of the notorious KIDS, has gone on to make several independent and singular films, such as GUMMO, JULIEN DONKEY BOY, MR. LONELY and TRASH HUMPERS, of which I’ve seen the first three and recommend them all for adventurous viewers. SPRING BREAKERS, his first ostensibly “mainstream” film on account of having James Franco and several former Disney/teen idols starring, is a truly kaleidoscopic and impressionistic trip. Beautiful, dangerous, seductive and sleazy, it depicts four young girls who trek down to Florida on their spring break looking for adventure and an escape from their humdrum lives. Over the course of their partying they are arrested, and local rapper/drug dealer Alien (James Franco, who is completely fantastic) bails them out. He enlists three of them in his crime sprees, and things spiral out of control.
This film is the dark side of the American Dream, filled with repeated mantras of wish fulfillment and better lives while showing how easily the protagonists are ready to fall to make their fantasies come true. All the actresses (Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine) bravely bare all and discard their former Disney/pop personas in their exploration of darker themes. I can understand the parental backlash given their daughters would see this bad-impression film, but they miss the point of why these girls do what they do, what drives them to lose themselves so completely. As stated before, James Franco hits a bunch of home runs here, he’s obviously having the time of his life essaying this grody gold teeth wearing gun toting shit slinging pusherman, a total trip. I cannot more highly recommend this film, see it sober or stoned (believe me, the visuals are tripping balls), it’s the best thing I’ve seen in theaters this year.
James Fazzaro 