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Reviews
Spring Breakers (2012)
Extremely Intense and thought-provoking
I saw this movie just before it was released on DVD. At first when I heard it was coming out I thought, "Oh great; another Harmony Korine weirdo film like Gummo. No WAY I will see that." But then I read the great reviews and started really wanting to see it. I didn't have high expectations and maybe that helped a little; but I have to say I really liked this film. And not in a "happy-go-lucky" Disney kind of way. It was VERY disturbing. But just like "Winter's Bone" it made it's point and it did it well. It's intuitive that a lot of people complain about seeing movies that portray teens who have dialogue that is very grown-up and not 'teen- like' at all; but then a movie comes along like this one where the teens are just as annoyingly vapid-sounding as they are in real life and they complain that it is boring. It IS annoying in a way; but it's REAL. That's the point. And even though their vernacular is teen-like; their actions show their morality and their true selves.
Girls have it rough nowadays and they are more lost than ever. Media shows us how much of 'have-not's' they are by comparison; and parents don't pay much attention because they are divorced and working and, mostly, because they are a part of a generation who had it SO much easier in terms of the economy and the right paths to follow. The Baby-Boomer parents are the "Me-Generation" and are not in touch with this post- sexual revolution/divorced parents/drug-addled/internet culture that their children are a part of. I think this movie made a bold statement about the current generation of lost children who are coming into a world where they are not welcomed by a fair job market and where they have to compete for any tiny scrap of power and self-dignity they will ever get. Do these kids really KNOW how to gain actual self-worth? No. And that is the point of this movie. It's a sadness at the end but it's a cautionary tale. And a DAMN good one.