Gummo (1997)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

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 | Anti Social | Small Town

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:

In the scene where Solomon's eating spagetti in the bath, there's a piece of bacon taped to the wall behind him. Says Werner Herzog: "When I saw a piece of fried bacon fixed to the bathroom wall in Gummo, it knocked me off my chair. [Korine's] a very clear voice of a generation of filmmakers that is taking a new position. It's not going to dominate world cinema, but so what?"

Goofs:

Continuity: During the scene when the two young 'cowboys' are breaking stuff, they break a car window but in the next shot the car window is intact.

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 Be Kind Rewind (2008)

Soundtrack:

Nothing But Da Bone in Me

Uniquely compelling film that is not for people with closed-minds

Well, I'd heard a lot about this film before I bought it, but nothing I was told really prepared me for how different this film is from anything else I've seen. On first viewing, Gummo appears to be a collection of random events, but after watching it a few more times, it it becomes more obvious how each scene and character link together (although there are still a few that I am unsure of!!). The nearest analogy I can think of is of a music album. Each scene is like a song that can be enjoyed on its own, but when the album is listened to as a whole it becomes much more than just a collection of songs, all linked in their own way. Plus, like a great album, the more times you listen\watch, the more you get out of it.

People will criticise this film for having no plot and to start with I agreed, but if you work hard to understand the film then you will get much more reward and enjoyment then from most Hollywood blockbuster's. The beauty of Gummo really is that there are so many questions that you can and will watch it again and again and get something different every time. This film is reasonably short, but it is probably the only film I have seen where every scene has worked. I am a very difficult viewer to please, but every scene in this film kept me enthralled and I did not want to fast forward once, even in the times I have watched it since (about 15 times!!)

A magnificent film, and a great directorial debut from a name to watch in the future - Harmony Korine.