Definitely disturbing but not totally horrible, i found this film an amazing experience, like i was having a dream and a nightmare at the same time. The opening scene and audio were haunting, setting the viewer up for something bad, the boys voice was strange and you could barely hear what he was saying making it seem even eerier. The visuals looked like home videos and were also quite blurry, so I felt like I was slipping into a strange place already. The film loosely follows two young boys (who kill stray cats and sell them to a black man who then sells them to Chinese restaurants) but also cuts between many local people who are all individually odd and weird. The most disturbing scene for me is when the boys pay to sleep with a women who we later find out has down syndrome.While found myself horrified by the way some people live and think and spend their free time, i was also drawn to the cinematic techniques employed by Harmony Korine. It is strange to feel two polar opposite emotions when watching something so i was interested in the way things were represented and filmed as to make the viewer feel both disgust and adoration for the characters in Gummo. The dreamlike nature of the film reminded me of Gus Van Sant's work and this is highlighted on the cover of the film “the film GVS wish he 'd made”. There is a lot of camera shake and blur throughout this film, which draws our attention to the things that are being depicted and makes us see them in a different, strange light. Lighting is also used extensively - a soft, yellowish tings seems to be cast over most of the film, with the rest being quite grey and bleak.The scenes where the boy in the bunny suit appear are examples of the bleaker sections of the film. I think the way it has been filmed and how it is filmed are also the reasons why it doesn't appear to be poking fun at these people , rather it sees them as characters in a strange place, living in a dream…
It ended as abruptly as it started, leaving nothing answered and the viewer feeling slightly uneasy. I remember glancing at my two friends who had watched it with me and feeling lucky to live somewhere so normal
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