Spring Breakers (2013?)

Let me explain the question mark.  A bunch of you put Spring Breakers in your 2013 list and I can’t remember when it was released; IMDB puts it in 2012 and RT in 2013.  So I figured I’d go with the general public thinking its in 2013 and then it makes me feel better about getting another 2013 movie out of the way.  I need to know how this movie ended up in a lot of the best lists.  Lets check it out!

Director: Harmony Korine

Cast: Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, Selena Gomez, James Franco, Gucci Mane

Brit (Ashley Benson), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), Cotty (Rachel Korine) and Faith (Selena Gomez) have been friends since they were kids.  They all go to the same college now and are bored with their current lives and want to experience more, have an adventure.  This motivates them to save money to go away for spring break. Through some unlawful and extreme ways, the girls get the money and head off to spring break where things get out of hand and they get locked up in jail.  To their surprise, Alien (James Franco) bails them out and they end up caught in a different sort of problems.

Spring Breakers is a flick that I’ve been not too sure about seeing.  For one, it doesn’t appeal to me but with all the positive reviews, I really wanted to see for myself.  A lot of times when I give chances to something different, it usually surprises me.  For Spring Breakers, its somewhat of a weird experience.  I started out thinking it was really bizarre.  It was a new in the sense that it used a lot of dazed out and hallucinatory (is that a word?) camera work.  Plus, the dialogue repeated a lot to emphasize a feeling, an emotion.  It felt broken and choppy, jumping here and there, flashing to naked chicks on the beach, booze and then flashing back to our four main characters.  Funny enough, all these things eventually did grow on me and it felt like I connected with some of the characters and just how they felt.  I’ve never been through their situation, goodness, no, I haven’t even experienced taking drugs.  I have no idea how any of that feels like and I was never a spring break girl, but somehow, it really was good at showing the deeper level of this flick.  There was something more that was expressed.

That scene up there is possibly one of the most innocent and fun scenes of the whole movie.  It was the good before EVERYTHING literally goes bad and these girls break apart in a certain way as they learn about themselves. While we are on the topic of the four leading girls here, I can’t help but say that if there was any initial reason to see this movie, it would be because of three of them.  Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez are from little teen movies back when they started.  I used to like them.  High School Musical is not so great to me now but back then, I did like it for a little bit.  Plus, these last few years, I’ve warmed up to Selena Gomez as well.  However, the one I really wanted to see was Ashley Benson because she is fantastic in Pretty Little Liars and seeing her do something outside of that role into this one was quite awesome.  I think other than Selena Gomez having a small and not so significant breakthrough, Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson impressed me the most.

However, talking about performances, the one that really stole the show was James Franco as Alien.  Honestly, I almost didn’t recognize him.  As much as his character irritated me when he first appeared as the DJ going “y’all” over and over again.  I have to say that his character was unpredictable and that gave him that whole new edge which pushed it over the limits and made him so good to watch. My respect for James Franco probably doubled with this role. I was really impressed.

Aside from some good performances, I think it was the way the movie was presented that complimented the whole effect.  On top of hallucinatory scenes, repeated dialogue, the movie was full of shades of neon that only would work for a movie set between lots of partying and drugs.  This movie surprised me in a way that I wasn’t sure if I liked it because I’m pretty sure the beginning had me slightly confused with the characters but as it moved along, it really grew on me and I started really enjoying its bizarre set-up of everything.

I really think its worth a viewing.  If nothing else impresses you, try out James Franco’s role as Alien.  You might be as impressed as I am. 🙂

Have you seen Spring Breakers? What did you think of Alien? How about the girls? In your opinion was there a deeper meaning to the whole thing? Did you like it?