Harmony Korine's "TRASH HUMPERS" (2009)
Trash Humpers is the new film from controversial filmmaker Harmony Korine. Korine, for those who don't know, is the creator of Gummo; a film that was disgusting, disturbing, and almost universally hated by everyone. Except for me! I love Gummo! In fact, it's one of my favorite films. I don't even consider it a "movie" so much as a piece of avant-garde expressionism put to film.
Since Gummo, Korine made a couple other films (Julian Donkey Boy and Mister Lonely) neither of which I've seen and both of which I've heard very mixed things about. He also wrote the "script" for Larry Clark's nefarious 1995 film Kids...but I'll try not to hold that against him.
Which brings us to this, his newest film, Trash Humpers. The movie is shot on old VHS video. You even see the "AUTO TRACKING" message pop up occasionally. The desired effect was obviously to make the movie feel like 'found footage' (much like Gummo).
You certainly can't accuse Korine of giving this movie a misleading title. The movie is filled with trash (both literally and figuratively), and yes, it features many scenes of guys humping dumpsters and trash bins.
The movie follows three depraved people in old-guy Halloween masks (you know those Halloween masks that are supposed to look like wrinkly creepy old men) as they wander around a blighted suburban landscape vandalizing things, smashing rubbish, and generally acting insane while also encountering other weirdo individuals (calling them "characters" would be inaccurate) along the way. And, yes, they also frequently hump trash.
So, coming from a person who loved Gummo, how is Trash Humpers?
Difficult to sit through, as it turns out.
To put it bluntly, Trash Humpers fails in every way that Gummo succeeded.
While watching Gummo, I genuinely felt like I was watching found footage of somebody's nightmarish home movies.
While watching Trash Humpers, I felt like I was watching a rejected "Jackass" sketch. Honestly, that's what the movie feels like. A rejected "Jackass" sketch that goes on for 75 minutes.
With Gummo, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen despite (and sometimes because of) my revulsion.
With Trash Humpers, I wanted to get up and turn the movie off....not because I was disgusted, but because I was BORED.
I also want to note that the movie takes a decidedly grisly turn about 2/3 of the way in (which puts the movie more in the realm of a horror film). This change in tone seems strangely tacked-on, as if Korine decided that the movie wasn't "shocking" enough and decided to push things further. The very end, in particular, seems put there simply for the sake of being "shocking", and feels rather desperate. I almost expected Korine himself to walk into frame and say, "Hey, pretty shocking huh?"
Also, the person behind the videocamera filming everything in the movie keeps doing this REALLY irrataing high-pitched laugh that was, by itself, almost enough to make me stop watching the movie.
I'm not sure what Korine's aim was with this movie, but whatever it was I think he missed the mark. One could argue that the movie has some kind of message about the prevalence of trash (again, both literally and figuratively) in our culture...but whatever. At the end of the day, it's 75 long minutes of guys in masks humping trash cans.
Better luck next time, Harmony!
Sigh. I never thought I'd be so disappointed by a movie called Trash Humpers.
Wow. This film seems...interesting. I didn't care for Gummo. Trash Humpers sounds like it's too experimental for its own good.
ReplyDeleteYeah it's "experimental"...but not really in an interesting or entertaining way.
ReplyDeleteThe more I think about it, the more this movie reminds me of a bad student film made by some goofy college kid who thinks he's much more clever than he really is.