{"id":5127,"date":"2018-09-15T11:58:16","date_gmt":"2018-09-15T15:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=5127"},"modified":"2022-10-25T13:05:10","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T17:05:10","slug":"spring-breakers-harmony-korine-2012-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/spring-breakers-harmony-korine-2012-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Kids gone wild in Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers<\/em> was hotly buzzed about on release, but eventually settled down to a 63 on Metacritic and 3-stars-out-of-five on Letterboxd. Both of which aren’t great, but a lot<\/em> higher than my personal estimation. This would be certainly not the first time my personal reaction to a movie has been against the consensus, but I am usually able to understand the other points of view. Spring Breakers<\/em> is an extreme case where I just flat-out hated a movie to the extent that I can’t comprehend another reaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it the Gatsby-esque expos\u00e9 of the essential hollowness of the American Dream? Is it the showboating performance by an unusually engaged James Franco? Is it Korine’s return to his wheelhouse subject matter of unsupervised youth gone astray? Or, as I strongly suspect, is it really just the teenage girls (including pop star Selena Gomez) in bikinis? Come on, admit it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I myself never went anywhere on spring break, and the culture as portrayed here is totally alien to me (even accounting for any exaggeration). So it’s possible that of the certain percentage of American kids that do “go wild” on sprrrraaaanng break, a percentage of that percentage does get mixed up in criminal activity. Perhaps I grew up in a sheltered environment, predisposed to just not get<\/em> it, man. But Spring Breakers<\/em> feels like science fiction to me, even less relatable than actual science fiction. Or maybe an anthropological documentary film about an isolated culture in a rainforest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spring Breakers<\/em> and Kids<\/em> (Korine’s 1995 debut as a screenwriter) both masquerade as slice-of-life looks inside the teenage mind, cynically employing a cin\u00e9ma v\u00e9rit\u00e9 style to make everything feel<\/em> real. They were both ostensibly marketed for teenage audiences, with the promise that their authentic experiences would be represented for the first time. The cynic in me worries these movies are actually cautionary tales intended for smotheringly overprotective older generations, indulging the darkest fantasies of a scolding right-wing puritanical mainstream culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m not kidding. Please, someone please explain to me how Spring Breakers<\/em> is anything other than “Kids Redux: It’s 10PM, Do You Know Where Your Kids Are and Are You Sure They’re Not Doing Coke, Having Unprotected Sex, Binge Drinking, Playing With Guns, and Sassing Their Elders?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers was hotly buzzed about on release, but eventually settled down to a 63 on Metacritic and 3-stars-out-of-five on Letterboxd. Both of which aren’t great, but a lot higher than my personal estimation. This would be certainly not the first time my personal reaction to a movie has been against the consensus, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,2],"tags":[1719,1785,550,1786],"class_list":["post-5127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1-star","category-movies","tag-1719","tag-harmony-korine","tag-james-franco","tag-selena-gomez"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/spring-breakers.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-1kH","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":728,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford\/","url_meta":{"origin":5127,"position":0},"title":"Roger Deakins is the true star of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"March 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Had I seen The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford earlier, I might have included it among my Most Disappointing Films of 2007. Certainly not because it's \"bad,\" for could I make a better movie myself? Could I make a movie at all? And who appointed me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/assassination-of-jesse-james-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/assassination-of-jesse-james-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/assassination-of-jesse-james-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/assassination-of-jesse-james-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/assassination-of-jesse-james-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1812,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/milk\/","url_meta":{"origin":5127,"position":1},"title":"Sean Penn as Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant’s Milk","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"June 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Any friend of this blog will know that I almost universally hate biopics. As I've complained in my reviews of Control, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and even Walk Hard, I believe that the feature film is fundamentally ill suited for biography. One seemingly minor lesson from college that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sean Penn in Milk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/milk-sean-penn-featured.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/milk-sean-penn-featured.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/milk-sean-penn-featured.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/milk-sean-penn-featured.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/milk-sean-penn-featured.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":606,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-8-best-movies-i-saw-in-2007\/","url_meta":{"origin":5127,"position":2},"title":"The 8 Best Movies I Saw in 2007","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Followers of this blog (a statistic which I believe can be plotted on an arc approaching zero) may have noticed an accumulation of digital dust this past year. Indeed, I watched my own blog drop off the first page of Google results for my own name. Who's feeling lucky? A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Movies"","block_context":{"text":"Movies","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/main-menu\/movies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Orphanage","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/orphanage-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/orphanage-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/orphanage-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/orphanage-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/orphanage-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5186,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/filmstruck-trainspotting\/","url_meta":{"origin":5127,"position":3},"title":"The treasures of FilmStruck include the Trainspotting commentary track","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"November 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Trainspotting is a lifelong personal favorite film. Essential. FilmStruck subscribers should be sure to catch it one more time before before WarnerMedia and AT&T cruelly shut it down on November 29. FilmStruck is full of more invaluable treasures than anyone could watch in two weeks, but I must single out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Movies"","block_context":{"text":"Movies","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/main-menu\/movies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Trainspotting","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/trainspotting-filmstruck.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/trainspotting-filmstruck.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/trainspotting-filmstruck.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/trainspotting-filmstruck.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/trainspotting-filmstruck.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":642,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/gone-baby-gone\/","url_meta":{"origin":5127,"position":4},"title":"Ben Affleck’s pervasively grim Gone Baby Gone","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Good ol' Bahstuhn Cahtholick Ben Affleck is an all grown-up, big-boy director now, and lookit, he made himself a pretty decent movie. That said, Gone Baby Gone is a big plate of grim, with side order of depressing. Affleck makes excellent use of location footage and local color. And not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/gone-baby-gone-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/gone-baby-gone-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/gone-baby-gone-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/gone-baby-gone-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/gone-baby-gone-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5804,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/james-mangolds-the-wolverine-is-the-right-kind-of-serious\/","url_meta":{"origin":5127,"position":5},"title":"James Mangold’s The Wolverine is the right kind of “serious”","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"August 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I was very pleasantly surprised by James Mangold's The Wolverine. Everybody involved did the right thing by simply pretending that the appallingly awful X-Men Origins: Wolverine was never made. Marvel Comics continues their (mostly) winning streak, showing everyone how superhero movies should be done. Hopefully soon we will be rid\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hugh Jackman in The Wolverine","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/wolverine-2013.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/wolverine-2013.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/wolverine-2013.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/wolverine-2013.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/wolverine-2013.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5127"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7491,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5127\/revisions\/7491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}