Spring Breakers is not what it seems. Photo courtesy http://springbreakersfilm.com/Ok, so you watched the trailer and you’re expecting this to be just another film about girls going wild and partying on spring break, right? WRONG. That’s just what they want you to think, but this film is something different entirely . . . it’s art. Granted, the main characters are at least half naked for most of the film, but that only adds to the beauty of it.
This film had me hooked from the first time I watched the trailer, and I was literally giddy while walking into the theater. But it’s hard to explain why. My boyfriend asked me while we were on our way, “so why are we so excited to see this again?” And I found that I couldn’t actually answer him. It’s just one of those movies that’s more of an experience, and you can’t really explain why it makes you feel so good at the end, but that might be part of the beauty. No over-analysis.
Let’s start with the good: the cinematography. I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that this is one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen. The whole movie is shot remarkably with creative angles and ridiculously attractive neon-soaked scenes. Think “Drive,” with the pinks, oranges and blues, but multiply it by ten and add red, yellow, purple and green. The best example of this actually comes in the very last scene where Franco and two of the girls get out of their boat, each wearing neon green, and walk down a neon-pink lit dock. It was an absolutely stunning way to finish the film.
Another surprisingly redeeming quality of the film was James Franco’s character Alien, a cornrowed, tattooed, grill-wearing, Midwestern/Southern accent-doting, gangster. Sounds appealing from the start — no?
Going into the film I expected to spend the entire time struggling to look at Franco and cringing every time he spoke, and especially at how often he said “y’all.” But that turned out to not be the case at all, and Franco quickly became my favorite character, hands down. He starts off as a rather shallow gangster, claiming to be all about money and parties and whatnot, but soon after he is introduced you get to see his other side and it’s actually quite endearing.
So . . . on to the bad. Having heard of this director but — regrettably — having never seen any of his films, I know a bit of what to expect. For example he (Harmony Korine) has a few ongoing motifs in his films: scenes that are uncomfortable to watch and repetitive sounds and dialogue. This film has a lot of both.
Things start to get awkward and you just have to handle it. Photo courtesy http://springbreakersfilm.com/Now I’m not saying uncomfortable scenes are necessarily bad, but they are what they are: uncomfortable. Watching four young girls make a series of poor decisions with blatant disregard for any consequences is hard to see, but it’s necessary to get the film to where it is supposed to be.
As for the repetitive dialogue, I would have to say this was the one downside to the film. You can hear this in the trailers when the girls keep repeating phrases like “where’s the money” and “we gotta get the money.” For the first half of the film, the repetition was fine and only contributed to the art, but toward the end, one scene drags on with repetition for far too long. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you see it. In this scene, I felt like the point had already been made and the continued repetition just seemed like filler.
I must warn you that this film is absolutely not for everyone. It’s an instant cult film, so it’s definitely something you either hate or love.
I don’t want to give anything away, but for those of you who have seen it, my favorite part BY FAR, was the scene with the Britney Spears song. You know what I’m talking about.
If you’d like to reach me with comments, concerns or suggestions you can email me at anconrad13@gmail.com or tweet me @alliectersely
