Review of Gummo (1997) by Robert C — 29 Feb 2008

I watched this at the recommendation of my Flickster friends, because I really like Chloe Sevigny and because the cover art has always intrigued me.

I have to be honest...I'm not sure how I feel about this one? And I'm a big fan of "quirky", which this film definitely is.

Part of me really enjoyed the visually sporadic "fly on the wall" feel that it has, while part of me feels like at least a slight narrative would have been nice.

Part of me felt like I was watching someone's (mostly well filmed) sometimes awkwardly personal home movies, while at other times I felt like things that were being done and said were a bit too contrived to be even feign realism.

I almost feel like trying to tie it all together by saying it's "a town living in the aftermath of a tornado" almost weakens the experience of the film as it really has no bearing on what follows and leads you to look for some sort of narrative which isn't there.

I think if it would have been approached as simply a look at "poor white trash" in "any small town U.S.A.", it would have been a much more powerful experience.