Gummo (1997)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Harmony Korine

Cinematographer: Jean-Yves Escoffier

Cast: Jacob Reynolds, Nick Sutton, Jacob Sewell, Darby Dougherty, Chloë Sevigny, Carisa Glucksman

Korine’s directorial debut occasionally veers dangerously close to freak show territory, but while its depiction of the aimless lives of the inhabitants of a dying small town may be off-putting/mirth-inducing to typical bourgeois sensibilities, these same people are drawn with enough humanity and care to inspire sympathy and/or empathy, with the overall effect of the film being strangely moving and even rather beautiful. Iain.Stott