Gummo

I thought it would be a good idea to post about the story behind my username... It's a quote from 'Gummo', a 1997 film by Harmony Korine which fascinates me. I discovered the film after watching Larry Clark's best known movie 'KIDS' [1995] of which Korine wrote the script. Larry Clark is a photographer i have studied, & i also visited his exhibition 'Kiss The Past Hello' at the MoMA in Paris in 2010. Being interested in Clark and his work, i was immediately drawn to Korine's. Gummo is a low budget, realist film set in Xenia, Ohio. It has been criticised for being pointless, boring and disturbing, and although I found it engaging, it was difficult to watch at some points. It depicts gritty reality of poverty in a town that never recovered from a tornado; people living in squalor, mindless violence and day-to-day activities of people who would today be stereotyped as 'white trash'.


Chloë Sevigny who plays Dot appealed to me due to her main role in KIDS, but Jacob Reynolds takes prime character playing Solomon. We see Solomon and his friend Tummler ride bikes, sniff glue and kill cats with BB guns, and it is Solomon who describes Tummler as having a 'marvelous persona'... 


"Tummler sees everything. Some say he's downright evil. He's got what it takes to be a legend. He's got a marvelous persona".


It interested me because it is, in my view, a huge compliment payed to Tummler whom he admires...who in reality is beyond senseless. 


The film lacks a consistent plot, and includes typical realist qualities such as its depressing tone and 'documentary' style filming. but I am a fan of realist films, and although pitied the people portrayed, I was also captivated. 


Other characters I feel worth mentioning are 'Bunny Boy', who never speaks yet is somehow the narrator of the film, and the Kid cowboys we see 'kill' Bunny Boy. I think they represent a separate theme of damaged youth and innocence...but to be honest, the whole film itself is open to interpretation.