Gummo (1997)
Directed by Harmony Korine
Teenagers Solomon and Tummler kill time in Xenia, Ohio, a small town that has never recovered from the tornado that ravaged the community in the 1970s.
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5 films that influenced Gummo
What critics say influenced Gummo
Saying that, "Gummo," is reminiscent of the mindblowing, controversial, virtuoso 1928 short film, "Un Chien Andalou," by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, which is now considered a classic, is probably the highest compliment I could give it.
Linda Manz, in her first role since 1980's "Out of the Blue," is memorable and rather touching as a mother who mourns for her dead husband by doing a tap dance in front of a mirror in the basement.
Most scenes are shocking and unforgettable, including a horrible drunken card-game brawl, and the triumphant return of Linda Manz ( Days of Heaven , Out of the Blue) doing a soft-shoe shuffle in the world's most disgusting basement.
The movie is full of such bothersome, elusive images (a kid with pink bunny ears strolling across a bleak landscape; a retarded woman shaving her eyebrows; two skinheads pummeling each other -- for real; the sight of Out of the Blue's Linda Manz as Solomon's weird, tap-dancing mom).
Even the behavior of recognizable actors--such as Linda Manz (Days of Heave) or MaxPerlich (Drugstore Cowboy, TV's Homicide)--is shaped by Korine to have the same casual and bizarre qualities as the behavior of many of the other participants.
One of the few adult actors in the cast is Linda Manz ("Days of Heaven") as Solomon's mother, who unexpectedly tap dances in tribute to her dead husband.
Most scenes are shocking and unforgettable, including a horrible drunken card-game brawl, and the triumphant return of Linda Manz ( Days of Heaven , Out of the Blue) doing a soft-shoe shuffle in the world's most disgusting basement.
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He takes the festering rot that hid beneath the surface of David Lynch's "Blue Velvet," brings it completely into the open and then congratulates himself for having the artistic courage to show us the raw, grotesque truth.