harpersbazaar.com.au, May 2013
Like all strong artistic statements, manic drama Spring Breakers by controversial director and artist, writer and filmmaker Harmony Korine (Gummo, Kids, Trash Humpers) is currently generating outrage and praise, splitting audiences down the middle.
Love it or hate it, the film has created so much buzz, it hit cult-status before it was released with Korine taking Hollywood’s most precious commodity, the Disney darlings, lit them on fire and shown them in a raw 7-11 florescent light.
Interestingly, Korine is not the only auteur showing a grimier side of celebrity-obsessed culture; Yet to come is Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring, the now infamous story of a group of fame-crazed teens who internet-stalked and robbed several celebrity homes, starring a pole-dancing Emma Watson, and Less Than Zero writer and notorious tweeter (over 395,000 follow his snarky 140-character LA observations), Bret Easton-Ellis’ latest erotic thriller, The Canyons, which centres on group of beautiful, but damaged 20-something Chateau Marmont groupies. It stars Lindsay Lohan, naturally.
If you’re going to see Spring Breakers (and I suggest you do), be prepared for sex, violence, drugs and skin as Korine takes Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez and Ashley Benson of Pretty Little Liars, James Franco, (the Ryan Gosling of 2013 – so sue me) as a Rif-raff-esque bad-boy drug dealer and who actually has some pretty awesome comedic moments, shaken them up in a crusty Panama Beach yard glass and spat them out guns blazing, scantily clad and glowing a hazy soft-porn neon. Begging the audience to react, Korine tackles the celebrity fuelled party culture like a contemporary artist, ensuring every element oozes debauchery and Lolita-like provocativeness from the characters, to the promotional art and heavy social media push which includes an official Instagram account and Tumblr, and, of course, the synopsis, which is essentially: good girls gone bad.
Savvy, or sickening: You decide.