Spring Breakers (2012) or, It's Florida, Bitcheeeez!

9/17/2016

Spring Breakers (2012) or, It's Florida, Bitcheeeez!

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Miami Movie of the Year

The colorful, in-your-face youthfully brash poster for Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers

Four young college girls must get away for their spring break; away from their depressing dorms to sunny Florida, even if their vacation is only made possible through a violent robbery. During their time there, they wallow in drink and drugs and send reassuring messages home to their families.

Spring Breakers, by writer-director Harmony Korine (Gummo (1997)), is a visually persuasive and impressive argument. - But for, or against, what? It seems too sophisticatedly made to be just a trite scare story about the dangers of guns, crime, drugs, uncontrolled partying and Miami spring breaks. One can easily project a lot of oneself into an analysis of the film, which doesn't stand out as strongly as related predecessors like Requiem for a Dream (2000) and Irréversible (2002).

The visually sensory-based, light-stressing universe is reminiscent of a Nicki Minaj music video (with cinematography by Benoît Debie (Get the Gringo (2012))) and, - together with the almost constant, wavy music (score by Cliff Martinez (Drive (2011)) and Skrillex (Smog City (2012, documentary))), - weigh up for the fact that the story moves slowly and at times feels secondary to the stunning visuals. It is incredible that Korine has managed to get the four promising young actresses to join him in this wild movie. SPOILER Their characters are mostly deeply unlikable, but so are the people that they kill, so any major reaction to these misdeeds remains absent. James Franco (Howl (2010)) is great and gives perhaps his career's most transformative performance as the silly-idiotic drug dealer Alien.

Harmony Korine: 2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Kids (1995) - Larry Clark's power-punch debut (writer)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 5 mil. $

Box office: 31.7 mil. $

= Huge hit

[Spring Breakers premiered September 4 (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 94 minutes. Korine has said he wanted to make the film to make up for his own missed spring breaks, which he used on skateboarding instead of pursuing hedonism. Emma Roberts was in talks to star in the film. Filming took place in Florida in and around March 2012. The film opened #27 in just 3 theaters to a huge 263k $ first weekend, peaking at #6 in 1,104 theaters in the US, where it grossed 14.1 mil. $ (44.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 4.6 mil. $ (14.5 %) and Canada with 1.7 mil. $ (5.4 %). Rapper Riff Raff has announced that he would sue the producers for "sampling" his life in Franco's character, but the suit doesn't seem to have materialized, perhaps unsurprisingly. Many critics included the film on their top 10 of the year lists, and Franco campaigned unsuccessfully for Oscar attention for his performance. Spring Breakers is fresh at 67 % with a 6.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Spring Breakers?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (5-24)

9/17/2016