Gummo (1997)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Harmony Korine

Writer:

Harmony Korine (written by)

Release Date:

17 October 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Prepare to visit a town you'd never want to call home.

Plot:

Lonely residents of a tornado-stricken Ohio town wander the deserted landscape trying to fulfill their boring, nihilistic lives.

Plot Keywords:

Ohio | Tornado | Cat | Small Town | Sex

Awards:

4 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Jacob Sewell	...	Bunny Boy
Nick Sutton	...	Tummler
Lara Tosh	...	Girl in Car
Jacob Reynolds	...	Solomon
Darby Dougherty	...	Darby
Chloë Sevigny	...	Dot (as Chloe Sevigny)
Carisa Glucksman	...	Helen
Jason Guzak	...	Skinhead #1
Casey Guzak	...	Skinhead #2
Wendall Carr	...	Huntz
James Lawhorn	...	Cowboy #1
James Glass	...	Cowboy #2
Ellen M. Smith	...	Ellen
Charles Matthew Coatney	...	Eddie
Harmony Korine	...	Boy on Couch

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive depiction of anti-social behavior of juveniles,including violence, substance abuse,sexuality and language.

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Iceland:16 | Canada:14A (British Columbia) | Canada:16+ (Québec) | Canada:18A (Alberta) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | New Zealand:R18 | Canada:R (Manitoba) | Australia:R | France:-16 | Japan:PG-12 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:NC-17 (original rating) | USA:R (edited for re-rating)

Filming Locations:

Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Company:

Fine Line Features

Trivia:

Earlier cuts of the movie were described by US censors as nihilist in their intentions, until Harmony Korine toned down a lot of the content.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the arm wrestling scene, the number of bottles on the table changes between shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Solomon: [voiceover] Xenia, Ohio. Xenia, Ohio. A few years ago, a tornado hit this place. It killed the people, left and right. Dogs died. Cats died. Houses were split open, and you could see necklaces hanging from branches of trees. People's legs and neck bones were sticking out...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Halloween Night (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

My Little Rooster

Startling

Set in Xenia, Ohio, Gummo feels like a deliberate riposte to Hollywood by its creator, Harmony Korine, whose penchant for subversion was already evident in his screen writing debut for Larry Clark's Kids (1995). Eschewing linear narrative, Korine explores, through the use of vignettes and bizarre episodes, the cat-killing escapades of its two protagonists and weaves this quest around a set of unrelated but bizarre events taking place in Xenia. There is no sense of a story, only a mood, and that mood fluctuates wildly from revulsion to surprise. By giving voice to those marginalized from society, Korine paints a startling portrait of landlocked America, one at odds with the Hollywood cliché of its inhabitants. There are many unforgettable scenes and yet it's not an enjoyable film, but it challenges, provokes and pushes the margins - and that in itself is worthy.