"Spring Breakers," one of the season's most anticipated movies, hit theaters this week in New York before its national release this Friday. The film features young starlets like Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens showing some serious skin and proving that they're more than ready to shed their Disney personas and break into more serious Hollywood roles. Trailers suggested that the movie would contain suggestive themes, but fans could never have imagined to what extent.
The entire movie is filled with images of young girls underdressed in scandalous bikinis as they storm Florida's vast, sun-drenched beaches with alcohol, hard drugs, guns and money. That's really all it is. The plot tiptoes forward and fails to provide any redeemable story. Here's a brief synopsis:
Four young girls rob a diner to pay for their spring break getaway and find themselves in over their heads among the mass of rabid partiers. They get themselves arrested for narcotics and are bailed out by a notorious gangster rapper, played by James Franco. Franco then brings them into his seedy underworld of guns, sex and violence and ultimately brings the girls on a killing rampage, all while scantily dressed in colorful bikinis.
As intriguing as it sounds, the story falls flat. It moves so slowly that viewers are left waiting, begging for the movie to pick up. The entire story could be told in 20 minutes, but American director Harmony Korine chose to drag out every sequence. Certain scenes and dialogue are repeated throughout the entire film. "It's spring break b---h" is repeated over and over again in whiney, grating tones, to the point where you want to shoot yourself in the head.
Korine's choice of repetition drills the suggestive themes into viewers' heads and reiterates the insanity that is spring break. In attempt to further capture its mayhem, he overly exaggerates every aspect to the point of absurdity. Similar slow motion shots of wild partiers are interspersed throughout the movie with no connection to the characters. The sequences show topless models and belligerent college guys jumping in unison on the beach, pouring alcohol down each others throats and snorting cocaine off naked girls, chockfull of slow motion close-ups of bare bouncing breasts and butts. The one particular beach partying sequence reappears over 20 to 30 times throughout the film, each time accompanied by in-your-face, anxious music that anticipates the ominous impending fate of the four young girls.
The soundtrack, in addition to the wearing shot repetition, is overbearing at times and drives the anxiety deeper into viewers' hearts. Amidst the various crazed Skrillex tracks is a continuous dark beat reminiscent of something you'd hear in a TV action thriller such as "24."
The scenes are so ridiculously exaggerated that you could say Korine is poking fun of American culture with the constant, over-the-top partying, the nudity, the sex (yes, Vanessa Hudgens is seen in a steamy poolside threesome with James Franco, once again a scene that's shown over, and over, and over again until you can't bear to watch it any longer) and the obsession with gun violence. When there's a popsicle, the girls imitate a blowjob. When they're hugging, they make out with each other. It almost feels like you're watching an erotic film. When rapper Gucci Mane makes his cameo, the scene is set in a grungy strip club that's so over-the-top with strippers, tattoos and guns that it almost feels like it has to be real.
All of that aside, "Spring Breakers" does have its redeemable qualities. Although its utter exaggeration can be a bit too much, Korine does an incredible job at building the set. Sure the scenes may be filled with naked dancing girls and unrealistic amounts of drugs and alcohol, but they're beautiful. The color, the cinematography and wardrobe perfectly capture the mood of the movie: party and crime induced insanity. At first, the shots are intriguing, creative, and although a bit absurd, enjoyable to watch. It's the hundredth time they appear that their repetitiveness becomes unbearable. It's clear that Korine is making a statement on the ridiculous ideals behind spring break as a way for suburban youth to rebel and celebrate their being, but it's too much.
"Spring Breakers" is like no other movie to ever hit mainstream Hollywood. It's content is what one would expect from a modern blockbuster. What looks like a fun, epic spring break comedy is something entirely different. It's a dark, extreme portrayal of youthful rebellion against society that wastes away into twisted, overbearing absurdity.