Thoughts on Gummo (1997)

Nothing happens in this movie. Caked in rot and filth, Xenia and its inhabitants are in limbo and nobody cares. there is nothing else but to partake in melancholic self-destruction. all sense of structure is warped and those that are meant to provide guidance are lost too. there is a cancer and it lurks beneath the surface, you are and will be nothing and noone

Korine cycles between assorted perspectives of the town's disaffected youth, and you start to realise that the whole movie is drenched in a cruel darkness. Teenagers recount tales of bigotry and sick cruelty and are greeted with delight and laughter. A disabled girl is pimped out by her brother. Adults act like children, arrested in their development. Tummler's deep-seated yearning for a life beyond a meaningless existence manifests itself as depraved malice. Soft-spoken Solomon hanging on Tummler's every word, meekly carrying out acts of violence. The innocence of youth peers out from the disarray like stark white bone from a rotting carcass.

Crying over you
Crying over you
Yes, now you're gone
And from this moment on
I'll be crying, crying, crying, crying,
Crying, crying, over you

 

Originally posted on Letterboxd on 25 July 2024