Trash Humpers - 2009 - Dir. Korine

I was pretty excited about Trash Humpers. Not TOO excited, mind you, being that I had a pretty good idea as to what the film was going to be like: grainy quality, loud noises, people dressed as old people humping, shocking transgressive type humor. It's not always tons of fun to watch. Everytime Korine let out that high pitched scream laugh... UGH! And he certainly does it a lot. So yeah, it can really test the patience sometimes. It runs under ninety minutes, though. You know, something I can appreciate. I can also appreciate the nocturnal urban/suburban landscape. There's some really engrossing shots that carry the mood of walking around at night. I feel like for me, sequences ended up being really terrific or dull/tiring. I definitely feel like the movie gets better as it goes on. As it skirts away from the psuedo conjoined brothers and heads more towards ridiculous type Gummo figures (Sleepy trumpeter being my favorite), I definitely got on the bandwagon. Also the sequence with the haggy prostitutes probably contains one of my favorite cuts in cinema of all time. Korine approached this movie in a way I really appreciate when he made this movie, whether or not it ends up being fun/easy to watch (which I hardly feel is what one should expect to begin with). Scenes were mostly off the cuff and filmed in a short period of time as he and the actors ran around vandalizing and being perverts. I mean, that's just an awesome way to make a movie! And then edit the bitch on a VCR!? As someone who dealt with VHS for most of my life, that's a look I can appreciate.

You know... Movies!

Julien Donkey-Boy - 1999 - Dir. Korine

As I watched Julien Donkey-Boy, I enjoyed myself. Rambling characters, rambling scenes, rambling everything. No problems so far. Nothing really seemed to be coming together exactly, but I got the impression the movie was ending soon. I had been watching it for a while, after all. I paused the movie and saw I was a third through. Hrm... maybe this would be trickier than I thought. So yeah, the movie felt a little slow. Maybe not as slow after the first "act." But I remember feeling like Gummo breezed by. I think it was a little more engaging in general. However, Julien Donkey-Boy did get me raise quickly raise my hands to my head in horror/anxiety. Then I wanted to stop watching it. A movie rarely does that to me. But you know, Werner Herzog, Ewan Bremner, and Chloe Sevifsihggrey are all fantastically intense in this. I like to think that Herzog just came on the set with a gas mask and just improvised all his scenes. And there's definitely some sequences that are just incredible. The movie even features some Oval, whose chopped up glitch goes well with the glitchy editing of the film. I especially liked a scene where Julien feeds his brother Chris like a dog but we only speed through it getting seconds of it. So, the film can be pretty slow at times, and not as generally interesting as Gummo but the film certainly has its moments.

Julien, on the set of his rap video with his posse.

Gummo - 1997 - Dir. Korine

I am puzzled by Harmony Korine. And I'm sure he doesn't mind that. I'm not really sure where I get tripped up. Somewhere between his attitude of a project to the final product... I get confused. You see, he seems pretty great. I REALLY JUST CAN'T TELL! I can't always tell if I think his sort of surreal trashy shocking aesthetic is really something I get behind. I think I do. He seems a little pretentious. But I dunno, I've grown tired of disliking someone because they're pretentious. And I don't even know if he is. Generally, when he talks about his movies, I'm kinda like: "Hey, guy. That's a pretty reasonable thing to say and I just might think I agree with ya, ya know?" But wait, I haven't really said a thing about Gummo. Although, indirectly, I really have. But Gummo is basically a series of vignettes of a town still reeling from the effects of an F-5 Tornado (THE FINGER OF GOD!!!). The film is basically everything it wants to be, I imagine. I enjoyed watching it. I'm not going to act like I didn't. I thought it was a delightful. That's right, that's the word I'm going to use. It runs around, showing us the crazy things it's doing. It looks good. It sounds good. It's edited good. It's even under 90 minutes long. I have no complaints about the movie until I start thinking of how I fear that Korine is a huge asshole. I realize he doesn't have real intents in much of what he does. A lot of it is in the persuit of an image which is SO FUCKING COOL. But then I get all Old School on the thing and I feel a little torn. He's like John Waters but... I dunno, artsy. That's not exactly true. He doesn't work with camp really as much. I suppose I like him. I don't feel like my shame of pretension is really grounds to badmouth the film. He really does manage to create some gripping images. I'm sort of ashamed that I even bothered to mention the pretension thing here. But hell, what can ya do? Make out with two sorta weird looking/attractive girls in a pool while wearing bunny ears, I guess. Oh yeah, and the music was awesome.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT! HOLY FUCKING SHIT! THERE IS BACON TAPED TO THE WALL!