Seems like your average film right? No. Definitely not. Far from it in fact. Going in to Spring Breakers I didn't really know what to expect. The only piece of work of Harmony Korine's work that I am familiar with is 'Kids' which even then, I have not seen. I think it is safe to say that I had a neutral outlook on the film before seeing it.
One aspect that I certainly admire Harmony Korine for is his directorial approach. He has a particularly obtuse style of story telling to put it in simpler terms. Considering that this was the first film of his that I have come across, I felt that for the first third of the film, I was taken out of the experience in sheer amazement and observation of this non generic method of storytelling. I wouldn't necessarily explain it as intricate or convoluted, but certainly 'different' would be a good word to use. He never really provided enough information to put together on what was happening on screen and for these opening 10-15 mins, I just sat back and took everything in. I'm not sure whether it was just my interpretation of the style that he implemented into this film but it certainly felt like one big montage. This is probably down to the fact that the film consisted of many of them, featured numerous occasions where voice overs were used over shots and dialogue between characters never seemed to last more than 30 seconds.
Appreciation of this unique style is definitely needed though, it was almost Korine's way of sticking two fingers up at Hollywood. It didn't follow the same, natural way of presenting a narrative to the audience. I can definitely hold my hands up to the director for this as such an audacious move certainly paid off in my opinion. Events that were taking place throughout the film definitely shocked me at times and certainly entertained me while still remaining ambiguous and unpredictable. This was definitely a huge factor for which I had such a good experience with the film; the plot may seem like it was a groundbreaking idea but the way it was presented to the audience give it an original feel. Juxtaposing quite clearly plays a key part in explaining and presenting certain things for Harmony Korine and Spring Breakers was packed with it.
Another thing that I can certainly admire from a director's standpoint were the visuals. This was an extremely exquisite film to look at and I am still sticking to the fact that I could probably have a great time watching the film with the sound off. Many bright colours contrasted with dark ones filled the shots and I definitely think that Harmony Korine had an intention for each and every frame that he inserted into the film. I would have to say the sequence I loved was the robbery of the restaurant. The camera crabs across the environment as the girls leave the car and enter the restaurant, following the car which is making its way to the exit for a quick getaway. It was crafted beautifully and I can personally say that I've never seen shots like it. The way that we were seeing this experience from the outside looking in was incredible. A very stylistic shot that I appreciated it thoroughly.
Something that I highly respect is when a filmmaker will include a shot of something that at first viewing will seem out of place and unnatural but later on in the story, is revisited and will bring relevance, tying a connection between the two. One of the occasions which this was used that stood out for me was James Franco's character playing the piano in which a close up shot of his hands covered in blood is shown. It then cuts to the three girls getting ready for what seems to be a heist of some sort. That very shot is proven to have misguided the audience earlier on and then after the events in which one of them is shot, proves to have foreshadowed a future event.
As for the acting from the four girls, on the whole I thought it wasn't too bad. Probably the standard I expected them to deliver, certainly from Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez. Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine were both average as well as the two just mentioned, not too outrageous that it took you out of the film but enough to keep you invested and happy with the standard.
What was a nice addition to the film was that clearly throughout this experience these girls were going on, some of them were having second thoughts on what they were doing. I predicted Selena Gomez's character being the 'sensible' one right from the beginning but not for one minute did I expected them to cut her out of the film half way through. This was also the case for Rachel Korine about two thirds of the way through, her character had a change of heart, decided to opt out of carrying on what she was doing and ultimately was never mentioned or seen again. I appreciated that once these characters left, they weren't revisited later on or scenes would cut to see what they were doing as all of the other mayhem ensued. But there arcs were put to bed not to be mentioned of again and this added to the effect that we were going on this journey with these characters.
My main problem that I had with the film overall would probably be that it didn't exceed the boundaries as much as I was expecting it to. Honestly, watching the trailer maybe I got the vibe that this was going to be outrageously crazy and was expecting too much, but I didn't feel that it went as far as it could of in terms of the narrative and the limits it was willing to push to shock and entertain the audience.
Overall, probably one of the weirdest films I think I will see this year, but I had a great experience watching it and I think it is safe to say that I won't forget it for a long time to come.
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