So, this the first ‘main stream’ movie by Harmony Korine, who wrote Kids and brought us Gummo in its full bacon-taping glory. Not your average person, I don’t think. Not your normal stories, either. This one continues to prove it, even with the big budget and main-stream actors and more coherent plotline.
Some girls are stuck in their boring college lives. Wanting something more. They view Spring Break as the ultimate escape fantasy, and the allure of the siren’s call is strong. So three of them do what’s necessary to get there. The fourth gal is a bit more on the God side, but goes along for the ride. And they all have fun! Meet new people, drink alcohol, ride scooters, do other stuff. But then the po-po show up. Jail. A Judge. Then James Franco gets involved. He is quite the gangsta here, with his own space carved out. Choices by the girls are made. Things play out.
Well, as the title implies, it is Spring Break in it’s full debauched glory. Drinking. Drugs. Sex. Guns. Korine does interject an interesting dichotomy with the religious character named Faith, who enjoys it for its fun and comraderies at first. But things go too far for her, the illusion collapses for her. She doesn’t realize the full extent of what her three friends really did to get there, and had no qualms doing so. Frightening look at what culture says is acceptable, what ideas of fun are. What success might be. But sometimes, people are just...broken. While this may have beautiful looking people in it, it is an ugly narrative. Well done for the story it tells I guess, but it’s overall a pretty dark look at human condition in this day and age. And this is 2013, I know things have digressed even more since then. Female penises, anyone? Jeez. What a culture we have cultured.
