Harmony Korine, enfant terrible for life, has finally crafted his most accessible film without diluting his venomous sting. SPRING BREAKERS deliberately exploits the audience's knowledge of its female stars and their celebrity fame before embarking on a vicious yet extremely effective journey of four red riding hoods entering into a world of wolves. Unless, of course, they themselves are wolves in waiting, ready for their first taste of blood amid all of the Floridan flavors and decadences.
Four girls seek to run wild and free during their Spring Break week from their suffocating community college, only to be hampered by their lack of funds. Though Faith (Selena Gomez) is eager to leave both her "home" and the influence of her pastor group, she isn't as ardent as the other three: stoner Cotty (Rachel Korine) and the dangerous duo of Candy (Vanessa Hudgens) and Brit (Ashley Benson). They steal a professor's car, drive-by rob a restaurant, then torch their ride before taking the party bus to Florida with Faith. It's all mindless bliss until they are arrested and locked up for a spell, only to be bailed out by a z-list rapper/dumb drug kingpin dubbed Alien (James Franco), who sees the potential in them for darker and sensual means.
A NC-17 cut filled with more boobs and booze wouldn't be necessary to understand Korine's ultimate point, that the pagan ritual of Spring Break isn't a celebration of genitalia-flying, alcohol-fueled indulgence scoped through MTV and cellphone aesthetics. That is just the popularized and media-friendly first stage; Spring Break is instead a giant litmus test of a person's moral depravity and judgment, a hellish limbo that unleashes the repressed primeval nature of a human being through licentiously challenging trials. Once he or she eventually taps out from all of the excesses, they are then able to return to the world of the living to be a good boy or girl. If they don't, they will continue on declaring the ringing words of 'Spring Break Forever!", a cry that gets toxic and disturbing as the film continues.
The film's script is thankfully more original than you would've expect from a crime film involving bikini-clad girls. You head into it thinking you know all of the plot points and major moments only to be sneak attacked by Korine. The fact that Gomez leaves early in the picture is the first alarm that you'll be heading into more dangerous and destructive territory. The story is coupled with a haunting, day-glo production design and beautiful artistry from the camera and the editing bay. Benoit Debie's cinematography captures the radiance of adult wickedness and festive debauchery. His shining moment comes during the first robbery scene, a one-shot take where Cotty drives around a late-night diner, nodding her head to Nicki Minaj, while turmoil plays out in the background. Douglas Crise's editing is deliriously ecstatic; a bitter blend of music video cuts, ominous sound cues, flash forwards, and slow motion pageantry. Nearly every scene is punctuated with gun-loads and clicks, a foreboding sign of things to come or possibly a nod to the devilish thoughts residing in the pretty little heads of our leads. Crise gets to stand out with a grand musical tribute to Britney Spears, in a movie devoted to the beleaguered queen of pop, where her song "Everytime" is given the dulcet tones of a piano-playing James Franco, an interpretive dance by the gun-holding, pink ski masked girls, and cuts to the hideous robberies they have been committing on the side.
The soundtrack is impeccable, comprised mainly of the destructive tones of dubstep and gangster rap before ending on a nice tight bow for the film and its message with Ellie Goulding's "Lights". The score by popular artist Skrillex and DRIVE composer Cliff Martinez is evocative when it isn't goosebumpy and sinister. The only composition able to top their work is the dark ditty delivered by James Franco after a key moment. Coming off a horrible performance in the boffo OZ: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, Franco has turned it all around with his humorous, charismatic, and disquieting take on Alien. He makes the character very sincere and honest; a thrill-seeking man-child whose obliviousness is genuine and sees the girls as his like-minded kin. His "Look at my shit!" monologue is sure to conquer YouTube and 101 acting classes. The female leads are all good in their roles, conveying their mental turmoil and lust of immoral life adequately. The film also makes great use of rapper Gucci Mane, and its infamous ice cream tattoo, as the heavy.
SPRING BREAKERS is sure to piss off many with its rampant party visuals and the so-called messages it may or may not be advocating. However, its "art as trash" mystique and breathtaking design overcome these fears and flat-out lies. It does get to be a bad trip and nauseating at times, not to mention the confusing first note of the film, but it wants to underline and expand the darkness hidden behind all of the young flesh, mind-altering elixirs, and MTV sponsorships. You need to take this film in one large dose, regardless of its taste, to see the true horrors facing many college-aged individuals during one important week. What happens in Spring Break may stay in Spring Break but your soul will be tested or completely removed.
FINAL REVIEW: 4 / 5
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