Tuesday 4 February 2014

Spring Breakers

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Release Date: April 5th 2013

Four college girls hold up a restaurant in order to fund their spring break vacation. While partying/drinking/taking drugs they are arrested only to be bailed out by a drug and arms dealer.

Director: Harmony Korine

Starring: Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, James Franco

Spring Breakers tries so hard to be something unique and fails miserably. It has received generally good reviews from most film analysts, yet terrible ones from the general public.

Don't get me wrong, I like a film that's different. Cinema would be very boring if all movies were the same. Spring Breakers is more of a live action artwork than a straight story. There are so many gripes with it it's difficult to end on a high note.

Three of the four girls, Candy (Hudgens), Brit (Benson) and Cotty (Korine) come across as the most selfish teenagers because they complain about not having the money to make spring break. And what do they decide to do? Hold up a restaurant and steal a ton of money to fuel their immature greed.   

So off they go to party, bringing Faith (Gomez) with them. On the outside they seem care-free, but on the inside they are naive, never aware of how deep into the unknown they go.

The story cuts continuously to party-goers having a good time. The partying involves drug abuse, nudity and tonnes of alcohol. Harmony Korine's perception of spring-break-partying is completely exaggerated. Most would be disappointed that the real outcome of a spring break party is tamer than what is shown.

The girls are bailed out of further trouble by famous artist and drug-dealer known as Alien. James Franco plays this character, and to be quite frank, he's a laughing stock that can't be taken seriously.

Spring Breakers is very repetitive. The script is repetitive. The beach party scenes are repetitive. It's a piece of avant-garde work that would be better suited in late night galleries and student exhibitions.

On a better note Selena Gomez shows promise at the beginning of her acting career. It's a shame that she disappears before we really get the chance to relate to the only likeable character in this 96 minute befuddlement.

Overview: As bizarre as the acting is comical (mainly on Franco's part), Spring Breakers needs to stop trying to be different.

2 comments:

  1. Utter garbage. We actually switched it off halfway though.
    I like art-house films with loose narrative but this was really poorly put together. The opening scenes of debauchery on the beach were entertaining, but the rest was really bad and Franco played an absolute joke of a character.
    If only this film hadn't taken itself so seriously, then we could have had a sexy crime caper instead.

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  2. I think the director's previous work is similar to Spring Breakers. I'll have a certain expectation if I watch another film of his!

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