Review of Gummo (1997) by Rollo T — 26 May 2014

This film should be screened in a class about trauma theory or for friends who need to be horrified into comas. The opening voice over really sets the bar, so to speak, offering viewers an absurd myth that the film's "survivor," Solomon, seems adamant to live up to: "A few years ago, a tornado hit this place.

It killed the people, left and right. Dogs died. Cats died. Houses were split open, and you could see necklaces hanging from branches of trees. People's legs and neck bones were sticking out. Oliver found a leg on his roof.

A lot of people's fathers died, and were killed by the great tornado. I saw a girl fly through the sky, and I looked up her skirt. Her skull was smashed. And some kids died." Korine's trademark oddness and his selection and blending of footage shot with varying representational goals blends snapshots of rural, white trash living with the episodic wanderings of the young cat hunters, Solomon and Tummler.

If by the end you haven't turned your nose up at the film, the final scene is wonderful and reminds me of Rutger Hauer in the final scene in Blade Runner. I suspect that people are mostly unable to watch this movie because it turns their stomachs.

Also, Korine is often doing more work than his actors--which seems to be the case with his stuff. However, in terms of the effect and theme, I think that this is a deeper film than, for instance, Drugstore Cowboy, or any other revolting film that seems to make gimmicky use of grotesqueness for the purpose of producing in audiences a feeling of constant tragedy.

Though it seems to be all about poor rural whites, I would argue that Gummo really teaches us more about ourselves.