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Cinema1

Gummo is set in present - day Xenia, Ohio, a small town that never recovered, economically or psychically, from a devastating tornado that struck some twenty years ago. Xenia is a place of grimy poverty and numbing boredom, of drunken parties and summer rainstorms, of casual cruelty and surreal beauty. Life goes on as it has for years and years, but hobbled.

"A few years ago a tornado hit this place. It killed people left and right ... Houses were split open and you could see necklaces hanging from branches of trees ... I saw a girl fly through the sky and I looked up her skirt."

Those few sentences, spoken at the beginning of the film, suggest the tragedy, mystery and humour that ping - pong throughout Gummo. The speaker is Solomon [Jacob Reynolds], a skinny adolescent who, with his friend Tummler [Nick Sutton], spends his days and nights searching for any distraction to mask the boredom of everyday existence. They ride their bikes, drink milkshakes and tell jokes. They kill stray cats to sell to a local restaurant supplier, and spend their meagre profits on glue for a cheap and effective high. They are heavy metal Holden Caulfields, funny and observant, with nothing but a lot of time on their hands.

About The Production

Venomous in story; genius in character; victorious in structure; teasingly gentle in epilogue; slapstick in theme; rebellious in nature; honest at heart; inspirational in its creation and with contempt at the tip of its tongue, Gummo twists across the screen like an antic fried chicken wing. If the cast of cute and creepy southern high school parking lot legends were asked, "What happened to this years cinema??" they would say "It’s okay, it’s in here with us," with a Children Of The Damned glow in their eye.

Harmony Korine has come up with a completely original creation, as far as I can tell. To categorise it would be hard because it is so new, there would have to be a new category. There are so many influences running through Gummo: Herzog, Cassavetes, Arbus, Fellini, Godard, Maysles, Jarman - that a chainsaw couldn’t cut it. There are also anti - influences like MTV, movie censorship, blockbuster movies, middle - class life - that linger as remnants in the rubble of the tornado - like Gummo.

I think that the people who are really going to become attached to this film are the young because they will be the ones who will understand where Harmony is coming from. Made by a young person speaking to young people through a sophisticated and refined cinematic dialogue of modern cultural influences.

Like Larry Clark did when he made "Kids," Harmony causes us to wonder, "What are we watching exactly?? Are these real people, is there a script?? What is that, who are they??" Made in Cassavetes - like improv-seeming - but - with - script style but using Herzog - like non - actors almost exclusively, the point of view of the characters and the point of view of the camera are a blur in the same way that the script, actors and director become a blur when the film was created, so I assume. In this way Harmony has picked up some of Larry’s tricks. The viewer becomes more than a voyeur, but a participant, or a mute presence among the characters.

As a twenty - three - year - old it is interesting that among Harmony’s favorite writers are James Thurber, S. J. Perleman and Flannery O’Connor. He is also a Godard - nut having seen every Godard work. He is a popular culture know - it - all as well. He might hand a friend a copy of a Shags recording and say, "Listen to this, it may change your life," knowing that indeed an obscure recording of a strange rock band experiment can in fact change your life - in the same way that Gummo has changed my life after I have seen it.

A good film makes me rethink the very process by which I think films are made. It is a very good film that makes me want to emulate it - and Gummo both makes me rethink the film making process and makes me want to create a film that is just like it. I feel somewhat the same way that middle aged pro golfers must feel when they watch the twenty - one year old Tiger Woods play the game of golf. They want to go out and play like that too!

Cinema1