"Gummo" Dislike and praise, shadow and light, Harmony Korine's shocking debut work

Unique film aesthetics cultivated through film education for gifted talents and the streets

So where exactly did this “terrible child” come from? Born in California in 1973, Harmony's career is somewhat mythical. He was a hippie in North America, spent his childhood in a commune, and was brought up by his father, a documentary maker, to be familiar with circuses, carnivals, and the special culture of the Deep South. He had attended a screenwriting course at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, a gathering place for talented people from all over the world who aspire to become film directors, and some say that he ``knew more about film than anyone else.''

His father, Sol Collin, who Harmony has described as a ``hard-core Marxist,'' is also a mysterious figure, but he showed his son films by Fassbinder and Werner Herzog from an early age. Harmony is said to have been obsessed with Buster Keaton's silent films and Charles Laughton 's Night of the Hunter (1955), so it can be said that she received a fairly core education for gifted children.

There is also a story that he dropped out of Tisch School of the Arts to become a professional skateboarder, but I don't know how true it is. What is clear is that he began making films during his high school years in Nashville, Tennessee, and after The Graduate moved to New York with his grandmother. His interactions with local skateboarders led to his selection as the scriptwriter for `` Kids ,'' but he says it was his first time writing a script.

“Kids” preview

The success of ``Kids'' also paved the way for Harmony to make her directorial debut. At first glance, ``Gummo'' may seem like a low-budget film made with a boxed lunch, but its budget was 1.3 million dollars (approximately 156 million yen at the exchange rate at the time). Although it's not a blockbuster by Hollywood standards, it's a solid budget commercial film.

Harmony, fascinated by Léos Carax's `` The Lovers on the Bridge '' (1991), visits Cannes for the premiere of ``Kids'' and woos Jean-Yves Escoffier, the Frenchman who filmed the film. The eccentric Escoffier was so impressed with Harmony that he not only agreed to a cheap salary, but also became Colin's chief accomplice in his desire for experimental methods.

Although Harmony and Escoffier are about the same age apart as father and son, they completely shared Harmony's provocative vision. Escoffier was primarily in charge of shooting 35mm film, while Harmony, Harmony's sister, and the cast shot material on 16mm, Super 8, Hi-8 video, etc. There was also a time when filming was stopped due to overage.) Furthermore, by mixing in VHS videos and Polaroid photos that he has found somewhere, he creates a chaotic visual style that mixes beauty and dirt.

Many of the performers are residents of poor areas.