Gummo

07.03.10
Gummo
(1997)
Directed & Written by Harmony Korine

"Life is beautiful. Really, it is. Full of beauty and illusions. Life is great. Without it, you'd be dead"- Solomon


I don't know where to begin. Gummo is a movie, who's haunting images will be burned forever into the back of my eyelids. Harmony Korine created a world for the big screen not often given any thought in the star studded Hollywood world, the extremely poverty stricken middle America family. The scene is set in a small town by the name of Xenia, Ohio before it's destruction by a tornado in the early 1970's. Poor teens shooting cats to get money to huff glue, hidden sexuality, the rotting stench of machine-hindered death, family proctered prostitution, and many other harsh realities are overwhelming. Gummo is so realistic you can almost smell the aroma of the scene, a fact which caused me to feel physically sick during the film. All of these things are artfully couched in innuendo, and many of the atrocities are left to the imagination, which makes them all the more potent. Harmony, in an interview for the film stated that he didn't want any one story or main character, he simply wished to create bits and pieces of life, a goal he most effectively achieved. Only five of people in the entire cast of Gummo were professional actors, the rest made up of locals. The heartbreaking stories that come floating to the grimy surface of Gummo will do nothing less than leave a deep marking impression on your mind. A must see.