Apr '19
Harmony Korine. You either love him or you hate him. I'm in the camp that can't look away. When he puts something on screen, I'm mesmerized. Even when I felt dirty after watching Gummo, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I watched it a few more times until I discovered a depth in its grim and hopeless redneck suburbia.
I've watched Werner Herzog drink cough syrup out of a shoe because he made it look like art. I've watched Die Antwoord roll up in their pimped out wheelchairs because Harmony Korine can make magic out of nothing. Just imagine what he can do if he has starpower and a budget to boot.
It's been a few years since we went on Spring Break with Franco and the ladies, but that seemed like a natural environment for Korine to explore more of. With The Beach Bum, he wants to show us Florida, and with a little help from McConaughey's laughter-filled performance, it's a fun trip that isn't even bogged down by sad scenes.
It's like we're all getting drunk and high and with McConaughey on the Florida coast for a few hours, drinking a LOT of Pabst Blue Ribbon and hanging out with Snoop Dogg. Sure, life tries to get in the way, but you got to keep at your own pace, and the universe will work itself out.
Films like this are about characters, situations, and art. The plot is derived from these things, and it seems inconsequential at best, because life is a rodeo, and the Moondog keeps on livin'. L-I-V-I-N.
Zac Efron plays a pyromaniac in jinco jeans who listens to Creed, and Martin Lawrence is a Vietnam vet who loves Flipper. I think this movie is set in the early 2000s. Snoop Dogg is basically playing himself. This is how I like to think McConaughey is normally, when he isn't winning Oscars. Just a bum who parties on the beach all day and all night. It's like Moondog is living by the motto of "Spring Break Forever", and we're given a hazy glimpse into his perfect world, and the idea of this perfection is contagious.
Critics consider this a flop for McConaughey's career, but he knew what he was getting himself into. This was a choice he made intentionally, to work with an auteur with vision, and you could tell he had fun making the movie.
Movies like this are a rarity, and that's what makes them important. They don't have conventional stories, because they have other things to say, and to me, it's all about that strange place they take me to. Nothing out of this world is going on, but it's hard to feel grounded when a movie makes you high.
I've watched Werner Herzog drink cough syrup out of a shoe because he made it look like art. I've watched Die Antwoord roll up in their pimped out wheelchairs because Harmony Korine can make magic out of nothing. Just imagine what he can do if he has starpower and a budget to boot.
It's been a few years since we went on Spring Break with Franco and the ladies, but that seemed like a natural environment for Korine to explore more of. With The Beach Bum, he wants to show us Florida, and with a little help from McConaughey's laughter-filled performance, it's a fun trip that isn't even bogged down by sad scenes.
It's like we're all getting drunk and high and with McConaughey on the Florida coast for a few hours, drinking a LOT of Pabst Blue Ribbon and hanging out with Snoop Dogg. Sure, life tries to get in the way, but you got to keep at your own pace, and the universe will work itself out.
Films like this are about characters, situations, and art. The plot is derived from these things, and it seems inconsequential at best, because life is a rodeo, and the Moondog keeps on livin'. L-I-V-I-N.
Zac Efron plays a pyromaniac in jinco jeans who listens to Creed, and Martin Lawrence is a Vietnam vet who loves Flipper. I think this movie is set in the early 2000s. Snoop Dogg is basically playing himself. This is how I like to think McConaughey is normally, when he isn't winning Oscars. Just a bum who parties on the beach all day and all night. It's like Moondog is living by the motto of "Spring Break Forever", and we're given a hazy glimpse into his perfect world, and the idea of this perfection is contagious.
Critics consider this a flop for McConaughey's career, but he knew what he was getting himself into. This was a choice he made intentionally, to work with an auteur with vision, and you could tell he had fun making the movie.
Movies like this are a rarity, and that's what makes them important. They don't have conventional stories, because they have other things to say, and to me, it's all about that strange place they take me to. Nothing out of this world is going on, but it's hard to feel grounded when a movie makes you high.
