Spring Breakers (2012) Reviews

• Going to be the most hated and yet underrated film to come out this year - Korine at his finest

  thejoshl2013-04-01

  Mr. Korine is a strangely unique director that uses this film to bore you into understanding how a generation growing up with MTV and girls gone wild has deeply mutilated the pursuit of happiness with nihilistic extremity — however his satirical exploration leaves you uncertain whether to laugh, cry out in horror, or stare in disbelief at its overwhelmingly artistic beauty. I watched this opening night and was shocked at how good of a movie it had turned out to be. I wasn't really sure what to expect when I walked in so it turned out to be a nice little treat, but to my disbelief when I got home I began reading up on it and all I could see were tweets and posts about it being the "worst movie ever made" and "absolutely disgusting soft core porn". I couldn't believe that these people watched the same film I did. As far as performances go there isn't much here other than Franco. The four girls do a decent job, the most notable being Selena Gomez although her character wasn't in it for a lot of the highly regarded scenes. James Franco is the star of this film. His performance is dark, uncomfortable and most of all hilarious. He hits it out of the park in the movie managing to make people unsure whether to be uncomfortable or laugh. His character is narcissistic and insane, yet you like him. He brings so much humanity to a place it shouldn't be. Aesthetically, this movie is absolutely brilliant. The cinematography is fantastic. No matter how you feel when you leave this movie there is no denying how well shot it is. The lighting is beautiful and adds this feeling of darkness you might normally find in a well made horror film. Normally I wouldn't appreciate that very much but it was so properly executed with the great editing and slo-mo sequences. No surprise from the sound department either; the sound design and music brought to us by the brilliant Clint Martinez (Drive) makes what seems like a never-ending soundtrack that compliments the visuals masterfully. Under all that the movie still manages to hit its theme, just in a way that a lot of people will miss and I believe this is the key to enjoying the film. It's meant to be boring. The use of repetition is so excessive it leaves a mark. No matter how much fun these girls are having it feels very dull and boring. This is the point! If you think for a second what you're seeing on screen is supposed to make you feel excited than go watch Project X. You're not intended to feel how the girls feel because they don't understand. Throughout the film you should feel uncomfortable, disgusted and at times sad. This film (to the right audience) should be as much a horror film as it is a dark comedy. Spring Breakers is a unique experience featuring lots of depth and style. This film will most likely be the most hated and underrated film to come out this year. I apologize on behalf of the general public Mr. Korine. (8/10) On a side note: The film has been said to support rape culture. I know it can be hard to understand for some people but sometimes film - like a person - uses sarcasm. This is the case. The film shows lots of naked females having fun, very much trying to replicate spring break culture in Florida however the film isn't a mockery of spring break, it's about the marginalized kids who have been brought up on Disney princesses and MTV. The kids who grew up with role models like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. The film isn't meant to focus on girls losing their innocence but instead girls searching for something and realizing it isn't what they thought it was. Spring Breakers is going to cause a lot of disagreement regardless. After reading this you will love or hate it all the same; what I won't stand for is people being unwilling to look past the surface and see this film for what it really is. Be sure to check out my review site: thejoshlreviews.com

• an honest and unsuspecting message for our generation

  kathleen-t-mueller2013-07-24

  Spring Breakers highlights the mindless popular culture that surrounds youth of this generation. The reason for its controversy stems from the fact that its target audience found its plot to be pointless, even though that was the point. This film depicts the shallowness of the modern definition of what is 'cool', like idolizing people that suck, those that contribute nothing to society but cheap entertainment. This sort of fascination blindly controls youth, the main reason so many did not understand the meaning behind this movie: they are blind to its influences. They think week long drinking binges, whoring themselves out, and having no goals is cool, because YOLO. However, this film is based off of these components and its audience deems the plot as pointless. Funny. Spring Breakers is like this generation looking itself directly in the mirror. Overall, Spring Breakers is full of outstanding graphics, bright colors, provocative scenes, and young Disney turned Hollywood stars. It was fun yet hard to watch, depending how serious of a reality check you need (assuming you even understood that it was one)

• Such a wonderful nightmare!

  toinou3282013-07-04

  I don't even know where to begin... Harmony Korine is a true artist. That might be where to start, because everyone seems to diss this film and its director, and I'm here to disagree. He kept his style, and that's why I loved it! Most people who went to see this probably didn't know anything about him and also probably didn't care about who he was or what he had done before... The guy wrote the 1995 drama "Kids" directed by Larry Clark, which was the most controversial film of that year, dealing with hard and difficult themes to portrait on film (such as teenage, sex, drugs, street life etc...) and treating of problems people didn't want to face. But Larry Clark's documentary and realistic style made the movie look like an open critic of this generation to the world, and was therefore more accepted by critics. In 1997 Korine then directed the very strange independent film "Gummo", which didn't really have any scenario, just a presentation of a little town in Ohio and its very bizarre set of characters... But the movie was still pretty good because of its weird and sentimental atmosphere mixed with documentary-style filming. He also made other independent films, but all of them always stayed in the "weird" and "unknown" section of DVD libraries. Here Korine has grown up and gained more experience with the years. This is by far his most accomplished work, but unfortunately by distributing this movie to a bigger audience, he encountered a lot of criticism and hate, just because more people saw and discovered his style. I am afraid that most people today just watch films to have something to watch. Movies nowadays are being more consumed and less actually watched and thought-over. The poster and the trailer for this film were a parody of these easy-selling films that the Hollywood industry makes every year, who don't have anything particularly original (and that's on ALL levels : directing, script, acting, score are all very similar to any other film made by the studio), but instead of seeing the parody of these posters with those good-looking girls, people took it seriously and thought this was just going to be another teen movie about spring break with some fancy action scenes and a seen-before plot. But no, this was something NOBODY could've see coming... or at last not general, ordinary, image-dose seeking spectator. Now lets actually talk about the film, I kind of got lost here! First things first : the cinematography and the look of this film are amazing. Even if you didn't like it, you can't say that this wasn't beautifully shot and crafted. The camera work is probably the best I've seen in a long time, and the neon colors add a really good look, which contributes to the atmosphere the film is trying to have. Then, the acting is great. James Franco totally takes his character to another level, even thought Korine has done an amazing job with this one, as he often never disappoints when it comes to characters. The girls are good too, and I was really surprised by Selena Gomez. Now comes the score and music : noting to say, absolutely brilliant! All songs fit perfectly to the scenery of spring break, blending Skrillex with hardcore hip-hop but also getting on the sensitive and emotional side sometimes with a Britney Spears cover (seems like she actually made some good songs) an awesome atmospheric score by Cliff Martinez, as always (he did the score for Drive and Only God Forgives) and of course putting Ellie Goulding's Lights in there, just brilliant! Now, some parts of this films aren't perfect, this isn't the best movie ever made or anything, but it is true work of art and not just a mix of drugs, sex, profanity and violence made by a crazy director in order to sell it. No, this is a very well-thought film, made by a director who actually has the balls to keep his own style no matter the audience is, and who uses sarcasm and reversed psychology in its storytelling in order to transmit its message, which (lets be honest) isn't the most common way to do things in modern American cinematographic industry... To sum it up, this was an extremely underrated movie, mostly watched by a lot of dumb teens and young adults who thought it was just going to be another Hollywood style flick starring old Disney actresses who want to break their image, but instead of that they got a weird art-house film that didn't follow the "rules" of the filmmaking industry and therefore disappointed them because it wasn't particularly funny in the way that most films are, and it showed sex, drugs and violence in a real, strange, and (too) explicit way for them to enjoy. Hopefully there are still some real cinema lovers out there who recognize the true value of this film. To them I say keep good and interesting movies alive but watching them, and to Harmony Korine, I just want to say thank you and bravo, for having the guts to put out on screen such a wonderful nightmare!

• Terrence Malick's Girls Gone Wild

  themissingpatient2013-07-19

  Faith, played by Selema Gomez, and her three very close friends plan to escape their boring college dorm lives to attend a massive Spring Break party. In order to pay for their getaway, her three friends commit an unthinkable act of terror. Their Spring Break vacation turns out to be a non-stop party of drunken drug use and sexual perversion that lands them in prison. This is when Alien, played by James Franco, bails them out and a new type of party begins. With a dub-step softcore porn music video opening sequence, it is uncertain if Spring Breakers is glorifying the demoralizing activities portrayed or if it is a satire. Even when the film is not flashing to what looks like stock footage of a Girls Gone Wild Spring Break special and we are with the girls, the framing seems to have been done by a sex addict. This will be one of the most uncomfortable experiences Selema Gomez's fans will ever experience. For parents, this will be an absolute nightmare. Younger male audiences, on the other hand, will think they've found their new favorite movie. When the girls are introduced to Alien the film feels like it gets a new director. The feeling of a Girls Gone Wild narrative feature film is lost and we are filled with a great sense of dread. Who is this guy who calls himself Alien? We even find ourselves afraid to find out what he has planned for these young girls he has bailed out of prison. As we continue through the second half of the film, it becomes very clear that we are in fact watching a satire. A horrific and effective satire. This is done though exposing the character of Alien and much credit must be given to James Franco, this is him at his best. Through the course of the film we go from fearing him, to laughing at him, to feeling sorry for him. The film is worth watching just for Franco's performance. The girls do an excellent job as well. These are easily two of the most frightening female characters ever put on-screen. Spring Breakers is written and directed by Harmony Korine, the writer of Kids and director of Gummo. If you've seen anything he has written or directed you already know what you are in for. It has the core of a Natural Born Killers story wrapped in layers of what would be if Terrence Malick directed Girls Gone Wild. What ends up becoming an annoying distraction is the repetition of dialogue we hear over and over again, playing in a loop. It's understood we are in the girl's shoes, things are spiraling out of control and the editing helps get that across. Some of it works but in the end, we've heard the same things so many times it is as if Korine is hammering the message of his satire into our heads, almost desperate to prove it has a point. Through the story it's meaning is made clear, no reason to over-use certain Malick-like editing techniques to over-state what the story has already made obvious. The core story is genius. The way in which the story is told is split between things that play out like a master at work and a new filmmaker still experimenting.

• A sometimes thrilling, very hypnotic, poignant piece of filmmaking.

  grounden19852013-03-28

  I can't describe the elation I felt leaving Spring Breakers--truly one of the best films to hit mainstream cinemas in a long time. It was a breath of fresh air amidst all the cookie cutter romantic comedies, dramas, action films, and horror movies that plague modern cinema. The stamp of a good film is the impact factor--how long it stays with you when it's over. Spring Breakers was a film that stayed with me long after leaving the theater. It didn't evaporate from my mind as soon as I hit the parking lot. This film affects you and leaves you in a mood long after the credits appear. Those seeking a fun "party film" will be disappointed. The TV ads, poster, and cast have probably misled some viewers into thinking this is a cross between The Hangover and Project X. Don't let the cast or the marketing fool you--this is not a "feel good" movie. It's a dark, exciting, tragic look at modern youth culture that doesn't so much as revel in the pop culture sensory overload as hold up a mirror to the audience so we can see some of ourselves in these kids. And if you're like me, you'll find this kind of self-reflection very disturbing. More than once, I was disgusted and enthralled with these characters, not knowing whether I should feel amused, angry, or sad. This is truly the best deconstruction of modern culture I've seen. The movie starts with our main quartet of female characters struggling to find a way around the fact they don't have enough money to travel to Florida for that much-hyped, almost mythical annual rite of passage nearly every college kid in the country has to face at some point: spring break. Selena Gomez is easily the most likable member of the cast--a young girl struggling to balance her Christian faith and values in the moral wasteland that is college life. One moment we see her praying in church, and the next she's passively condoning the fact that her friends have just robbed a restaurant in order to obtain the rest of the money they need to make it to Florida. In one poignant monologue, she speaks of the monotony of life and how everyone is depressed because they wake up and see the same things every day. Her desire to go on spring break is almost spiritual in nature--a soul-searching journey in which she just wants to be someone new and be free. The spring break party scenes are manic--loud music, hypnotic imagery, and disorienting colors all come together like some kind of dream. The fun soon ends once the girls are arrested for using narcotics at a wild party. They have two options: pay a fine, or remain in jail for another two days. Out of money and unwilling to call their parents, the girls languish in jail until a mysterious visitor posts their bail. Enter James Franco as Alien, a white gangster with gold teeth, dreadlocks, and a ton of money and guns to go along with his criminal tendencies. Franco truly breaks out in this performance, becoming someone I never could have imagined he'd be able to pull off back in his Spider-Man days. His intentions are murky and the film never misses an opportunity to make us feel uncomfortable witnessing his interactions with the girls. It's at this point that the film takes a drastic turn into even darker territory, the trip slowly proving itself to be more than a few of them bargained for. Thus begins the tragic slide into the dark nature of these characters, as they find themselves participating in and doing things bound to seduce the audience into an awe-struck state more than once. Not that any of this is told through a conventional narrative. The whole film feels like one crazy, hypnotic dream, from its use of colors to its loud, insane score that ranges from romping party fun to atmospheric, moody pieces that underline the darker moments in the film. The narrative jumps around in time and space, pasted together through flashbacks, flash forwards, and repetitive lines that linger in the back of the viewer's mind like a broken record. The cinematography is flat out excellent and the filmmakers make perfect use of the beautiful Florida scenery amidst all the sheer depravity we witness on screen, with more than a few shots of the beautiful Florida sky and sunset to remind us of our humanity. By the time the film reaches a delirious montage of violence set to the unlikely tune of Britney Spears' song Every time, Korine has us hook, line, and sinker feeling a sense of revulsion and pity for ourselves and the world at large. Any film that can provoke this type of uncomfortable self-contemplation deserves to be praised. In the end, I left the theater feeling like I'd just come off an intense acid trip into the darker recesses of modern culture, emotionally exhausted and ready to get in my car and drive home in silence, reflecting on what I'd just seen. If you're not expecting to have fun and aren't afraid to look inside yourself to that aspect of your personality that craves materialism and vapid entertainment at the expense of losing some of your humanity, go and see Spring Breakers. It's truly one of the best films of 2013 (so far) and will no doubt be a cult classic in years to come. Just don't blame me if the film haunts you long after it's over.