Gummo

This article is about the movie Gummo. For the Marx brother of the same name, see Gummo Marx

Gummo
Directed by	Harmony Korine
Written by	Harmony Korine
Produced by	Cary Woods Robin O'Hara Scott Macaulay
Starring	Jacob Reynolds
Distributed by	Fine Line Features
Release dates	17 October, 1997
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$1.3 million

Gummo is a 1997 cult film written and directed by Harmony Korine, better known for his writing contributions to Larry Clark's controversial 1995 film, Kids. The film stars Nick Sutton and Jacob Reynolds. Rather than following a linear plot, the film is presented in a series of seemingly unrelated vignettes.

Overview

Most of the filming was done in Nashville, Tennessee, and most of the actors had little or no experience. Chloë Sevigny, the long-time girlfriend of the director, plays a role, as does Korine himself.

The name of the movie is supposedly derived from Gummo Marx, the least known of the Marx Brothers, who quit the act before they became famous. Indeed, one of the main characters does what could be interpreted as a bizarre, exaggerated impersonation of the Marx brothers' comedic style in the film.

Chloë Sevigny was in charge of costumes for the film, and she reportedly purchased the majority of costumes at a local thrift store to preserve authenticity. The scene in which roaches crawl out of holes in a wall was filmed in a real roach-infested Nashville home.

The soundtrack contains bands such as Burzum, Bathory, Brujería, Sleep, Spazz and the German Bethlehem who strengthen the disconcerting atmosphere of the film. A short interlude features blurry images of people in corpse paint engaging in some sort of ceremony involving the skull of a goat or other horned animal. Korine later shows interest in black metal subculture in his 2000 visual series "The Sigil Of The Cloven Hoof Marks Thy Path."

• This film premiered at the 24th Telluride Film Festival on August 29, 1997. During the screening, numerous people got up and left during the initial cat drowning sequence. After the screening, Werner Herzog and Harmony Korine hosted a Q&A session in which Werner gave praise to the film overall, especially the bacon taped to the wall during the bathtub scene.

Synopsis

The movie is about the people of a small American wasteland town of Xenia, Ohio, who are shellshocked by the destruction wrought by a recent tornado. (In reality, the tornado struck on April 3, 1974; in the movie, it happens in the 1990s.)

The film's chief protagonists are Solomon and Tummler, two teenage boys who kill cats and sell them to a butcher so they can buy glue to sniff. Other odd characters pop in and out of the narrative, wrestling kitchen chairs, discussing nipple-darkening techniques, and shaving their eyebrows. The enigmatic Bunny Boy makes several silent appearances, urinating off bridges and playing the accordion on the toilet. Some have said that Bunny boy symbolizes the only form of happiness in the town.

One of the most memorable vignettes shows Solomon's mother washing his hair as he eats a plate of spaghetti and a chocolate crunch bar. The water in the tub is a filthy shade of green, and the scene's atmosphere is so unflinchingly intimate that many viewers find it profoundly disturbing, or sublime; there is also a piece of cooked bacon stuck to the wall with tape. In another disturbing scene, a man pimps out his mentally retarded sister to Solomon and Tummler. Korine himself appears in one of the vignettes and attempts to kiss a black midget.

Response

This unflinching examination of "poor white trash" has garnered both glowing reviews and thunderous condemnations for its disturbing content and strange style, which is simultaneously hyperrealistic and surrealistic. In addition to drug abuse, the film profiles a broad range of issues including suicide, grief, homophobia, prostitution, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, euthanasia and racism - all in a day in the life of small town USA.

Trivia

• The Israeli Garage Punk/Hardcore band Los Kikes covered one of the songs from the movie ("I know a girl from Salt Lake City...") on their debut album from 2006.

• During a scene in the movie Belly, Gummo can be seen playing on the television.

External links

• Gummo at IMDb
• Official Site
• Unoffical Fansite
• Janet Maslin Review