Gummo

Harmony Korine was 19 when he wrote the screenplay for Kids, and 24 when he directed his own first feature in the town where he grew up. Gummo takes its name from a minor character in The Andy Griffith Show and its setting from Xenia, Ohio, a place flattened by an F5 tornado on April 3, 1974, and never fully rebuilt. Korine shot there in 1996 with a cast drawn largely from people he met on the street, in skate parks, and through friends of friends.

The film has no conventional plot. It moves through a series of sketches: two boys on bicycles killing stray cats and selling the bodies to a grocery store; a teenager washing his hair in a filthy bathtub while his mother watches; three sisters eating spaghetti in a kitchen while one of them recounts a dream. The camera stays low and close, and the performances feel less acted than observed.

Critics split sharply on release. Some saw exploitation of poverty and disability; others saw a new kind of American regionalism. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1997, played in a handful of theaters, and grossed $116,799 against a $1.3 million budget. It has since become a reference point for independent cinema, and the Criterion Collection released a restored edition in 2024. [edit]

Xenia, Ohio, population around 25,000, sits in Greene County. On April 3, 1974, an F5 tornado killed 34 people and destroyed more than 1,000 homes. By the time Korine filmed there in the mid-1990s, empty lots and damaged buildings still marked the path of the storm. The film opens with a black-and-white photograph of the tornado and a voiceover from Linda Manz describing the disaster in flat, unemotional terms.

Solomon, played by Jacob Reynolds, is a boy of about 13 with a bowl haircut and a blank expression. He lives with his mother in a house with peeling wallpaper. He keeps albino rabbits in a cage in the yard. His friend Tummler, played by Nick Sutton, is a few years older, taller, with a shaved head and a mouth full of braces. Tummler talks constantly, mostly about nothing. The two ride bicycles through town, carrying a plastic bag and a stick. They find stray cats, kill them with the stick, and sell the carcasses to a grocery store owner who pays them a few dollars each. The film shows one of these killings in a single unbroken shot.

Elsewhere in town, Bunny Boy, played by Jacob Sewell, is a young man who wears rabbit ears and carries a pet rabbit in a cage. He rides a bicycle and rarely speaks. His sister, played by Darby Dougherty, is a teenager who lives in a house with their mother and another sister. In one scene, Bunny Boy watches his sister and her boyfriend through a window. In another, he sits on a couch while his mother brushes his hair.

Dot, played by Chloë Sevigny, is a teenage girl who lives with her mother and sister. She has a boyfriend who is older and treats her badly. In one scene, she and her friend Helen, played by Carisa Glucksman, sit on a bed and talk about sex. Dot says she wants to be a dancer. Later, she and Helen go to a house where a group of men are watching television. One of the men, Huntz, played by Wendall Carr, speaks in a high, affected voice about nothing in particular. The girls sit on the floor and watch.

Three sisters, played by non-professional actors, live in a small house with their mother. In one scene, they sit at a table eating spaghetti. The oldest sister, who wears glasses and has short hair, describes a dream in which she is a chair. The other two listen and laugh. The scene runs for several minutes with no cut.

A group of skinheads, played by Jason Guzak and Casey Guzak, drive around town in a beat-up car. They drink beer and talk about violence. In one scene, they beat up a man at a gas station. In another, they sit on a porch and watch a woman walk by.

Two cowboys, played by James Lawhorn and James Glass, sit on a porch and talk about nothing. One of them holds a rifle. They watch the neighborhood and occasionally fire the gun into the air.

Solomon and Tummler visit an abandoned house. Tummler finds a box of photographs and looks through them. Solomon sits on the floor and says nothing. Later, they go to a pond and swim. Tummler talks about a girl he knew. Solomon listens.

The film moves back and forth between these groups. There is no central conflict and no character arc in the traditional sense. The scenes accumulate rather than build. The town itself is the subject: empty lots, broken windows, stray animals, and people with nothing to do.[edit]