`Gummo' Shoots Only For Shocks

Movie review 0 stars "Gummo," with Jacob Reynolds, Nick Sutton, Chloe Sevigny, Carisa Bara and Max Perlich. Directed and written by Harmony Korine. 95 minutes. Grand Illusion. "R" - Restricted because of nudity, language, violence and graphic scenes of animal torture and mutilation.

You have to give Harmony Korine some credit. At age 23, Korine, the brash scriptwriter behind the controversial drama "Kids," is on his way to making his presence felt in the film industry with his gut-wrenching, realistic tales. Gus Van Sant and Werner Herzog urge cinephiles to keep an eye on him, and he's been compared to great filmmakers such as John Cassavetes and Jean-Luc Godard.

That doesn't necessarily put Korine on the fast-track to the Directors Guild's A-list.

His directorial debut, "Gummo," proves the young filmmaker has yet to discover the fine nuances of free-form filmmaking. Where Godard and Cassavetes flouted conventions to break out of traditional linear storytelling and produce thought-provoking art, Korine's disjunct scenes shoot for shocks instead of power.

"Gummo," mired in grimy poverty and nihilism, could have been a gritty commentary on suburban lower-class youth in the same way "Kids" presented urban adolescence in all its ruthlessness. Instead, it's a gaudy, reckless collage of perverse images that lack any value.

The film follows a pair of strange-looking boys, a scrawny beak-nosed kid named Solomon (Jacob Reynolds) and his teenage pal Tummler (Nick Sutton), as they wind their way through the dirt-poor town of Xenia, Ohio. It seems Xenia was ripped apart by a tornado some 20 years before and never recovered, economically or spiritually.

Solomon and Tummler make what little money they can by killing stray cats and selling the meat to the local grocery store. They use the money to buy milk shakes and glue for a cheap high, and for additional kicks pay a visit to their buddy Cole (Max Perlich), who pimps out his mentally deficient sister.

We also get to know a half-naked skateboarder who wears pink bunny-ears (Jacob Sewell); a pair of precocious peroxide blondes, Dot (Chloe Sevigny) and Helen (Carisa Bara); Solomon's tap-dancing mother (Linda Manz); and a candy sampler of non-actor hillbillies and freaks.

In the production notes, Korine admits that many people will find "Gummo" puzzling, but feels as long as they are struck with a strong emotion, it's a success. Actually, the film is inscrutable and the one emotion you're likely to be left with is disgust, not just because of the images presented, but for the sheer carny sight-gag nature of it all.

Korine hauls out every avant-garde cliche imaginable: There's a black dwarf wearing an Israel T-shirt, several morbidly obese folks who serve as furniture and a toeless albino who adores Patrick Swayze. Legendary French cinematographer Jean Yves Escoffier lends his polish to "Gummo," but even a high-brow blend of video, grainy Super-8 and Steadicam footage can't save it.

And it's never really established why the film is named "Gummo." The only reference that comes to mind is Gummo Marx, one of the original Marx brothers who starred with the troupe onstage but never made the transition to the silver screen. Gummo the performer was a vaudeville star; "Gummo" the film is merely trash.