For some odd reason, we’ve become increasingly fascinated by
our own ‘messed-up’ generation – especially in movies. Two hotly anticipated
releases this year – Sofia Coppola’s ‘The Bling Ring’ and Harmony Korine’s
‘Spring Breakers’ – attempt to explore the morality, or lack thereof, of a
bunch of bored middle-class girls gone wild.
One might think that Korine has somewhat mastered the
fruitful what-happens-when-parents-are-not-around formula: he did, after all,
write the screenplay for photographer
Larry Clark’s disturbingly honest 1995 debut ‘Kids’. And despite the fact that
I’d been dreaming about ‘Spring Breakers’ for months, the film left an
unsettlingly bitter taste in my mouth after finally watching it.
The plot, filled with random feuds and weird Britney
references, was such an annoying mess; the ending was even worse. Maybe the
film should’ve been longer, or maybe it should’ve been cut differently. I don’t
know. What I do know, however, is that Korine had obviously tried to EXPLORE which
is kind of funny because nothing actually gets explored. The characters have
little or no depth, and some of them seem absolutely pointless (sorry, Gucci
Mane). Even the legendary James Franco could not save the day. And that says a
lot.
I don’t think that the idea of ‘social commentary’ is bad.
It’s just about the art of executing it correctly.
Hopefully, ‘The Bling Ring’ won’t be a let-down. It can’t
be.
