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‘ARE THEY OLD, YOUNG, MASKED, REAL OR BURN VICTIMS?’ Hitlist THE BEST FILM & DVD RELEASES*
Talking trash Director Harmony Korine talks to James Mottram about his latest film – and simulating sex with dustbins
A s idiosyncratic as he is impish, director Harmony Korine may have long since shaken off the media tag of ‘enfant terrible’. But with a CV that includes such fiercely independent films as Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy and Mister Lonely – the latter about a Michael Jackson impersonator who finds solace in a commune of other celebrity mimics – it’s clear Korine doesn’t do crowdpleasers. ‘I’m always slightly delusional at the beginning, because I always think each of my films will be very commercial,’ he laughs, when we meet in a dimly lit private member’s club in London’s Soho. ‘I honestly believe that.’
While the closest he ever came to this was his controversial breakthrough script for Larry Clark’s 1995 film Kids, with its tabloid-baiting depiction of underage teen sex, his latest effort Trash Humpers is arguably his most out-there project yet. The story of a group of elderly, wrinkled sociopaths from Korine’s hometown of Nashville, they spend their time – you guessed it – simulating sex with dustbins. Not that this stopped Korine believing he’d got a hit on his hands. ‘I remember saying I want to make the kind of movie I could imagine Miley Cyrus promoting and getting behind! Making this, the whole time I felt it would appeal to her sensibility.’ Perhaps understandably, you won’t find the Hannah Montana star banging the drum on Korine’s behalf. Like a fly-on-the-wall study of the family in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre on their day off, Trash Humpers is not exactly Disney fodder. ‘I don’t know if it’s a horror film, but I wanted to make something that was very disturbing,’ says Korine, who happily
admits this story is really a series of vignettes. ‘It’s all just an accumulation of moments, and that’s very much the way it was made. We would walk around, sleep out at night under bridges and in the woods, and we would have cameras and just wake up in the morning and just film.’
Shot on grainy VHS tape, it’s the Trash Humpers (played by an unknown cast that includes Korine’s own wife Rachel) who make the film such an unsettling experience. ‘I wanted it to be a bit confusing,’ says Korine, who also makes a cameo appearance in the film. ‘Are they old, are they young, are they masked, are they real, are they burn victims? They’re more shape-shifters or degenerate mystics. It’s a movie based on people who live in the shadows. Like people out there living in the woods. When I close my eyes and get to a place that’s unfiltered and truly frightening in a lot of ways, that’s what it looks like.’ I suggest to Korine that maybe, like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hollywood will eventually come along and remake it. He starts to laugh at the idea. ‘Maybe they’d turn it into a video game. I’d be open to that!’ Even so, if the 37-year-old is the very antithesis to the mainstream, having recently penned a comedy he feels is more ‘movie-ish’, he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of working inside the system. ‘I could imagine writing a script I’d want to make with a studio,’ he notes. ‘It’s never good to limit yourself.’
Trash Humpers, GFT, Glasgow on Wed 14 Jul and Thu 15 Jul.
✽✽ Women Without Men Iranian filmmaker Shirin Neshat’s sublime, magical and deeply feminist revisitation of the 1953 CIA-backed coup d’etat of her country. See review, page 50. GFT, Glasgow from Fri 16–Thu 22 Jul. ✽✽ Ajami Stunning dramatic evocation of a mixed faith community in modern day Tel Aviv. See review, page 51. GFT, Glasgow from Mon 19–Wed 21 Jul. ✽✽ Wild Grass Pleasing ‘lost and found’ romantic adventure from veteran French filmmaker Alain Resnais. See review, page 52 and profile, listings. Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Tue 13–Mon 18 Jul. ✽✽ Leaving Raunchy tale of petit bourgeoisie infidelity starring Kristin Scott Thomas. See feature, page 30 and review, page 50. Selected release from Fri 9 Jul. ✽✽ Bluebeard Cinematic enfant terrible Catherine Breillat’s take on French fairytale (pictured). See review, page 50. Cameo, Edinburgh and selected release from Fri 16 Jul. ✽✽ Inception We weren’t able to review Christopher Nolan’s new neuro-thriller before going to press but we’ve heard great things. See Also Released, page 52. General release from Fri 16 Jul. ✽✽ Breathless Godard’s early treasure reissued. Cameo, Edinburgh from Fri 16–Thu 22 Jul (matinees only). ✽✽ When You’re Strange Decent Doors documentary. Out now on selected release. ✽✽ Fantastic Planet René Laloux’s stunning 1973 animated sci-fi feature finally finds a home on DVD. See review. Out Mon 26 Jul (Eureka/Masters of Cinema). 8–22 Jul 2010 THE LIST 49