Gummo (1997)

Director:

Harmony Korine

Writer:

Harmony Korine (written by)

Release Date:

17 October 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Prepare to visit a town you'd never want to call home.

Plot:

Lonely residents of a tornado-stricken Ohio town wander the deserted landscape trying to fulfill their boring, nihilistic lives.

Plot Keywords:

Ohio | Cat | Tornado | Cat Killer | Anti Social

Awards:

4 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Jacob Sewell	...	Bunny Boy
Nick Sutton	...	Tummler
Lara Tosh	...	Girl in Car
Jacob Reynolds	...	Solomon
Darby Dougherty	...	Darby
Chloë Sevigny	...	Dot (as Chloe Sevigny)
Carisa Glucksman	...	Helen
Jason Guzak	...	Skinhead #1
Casey Guzak	...	Skinhead #2
Wendall Carr	...	Huntz
James Lawhorn	...	Cowboy #1
James Glass	...	Cowboy #2
Ellen M. Smith	...	Ellen
Charles Matthew Coatney	...	Eddie
Harmony Korine	...	Boy on Couch
Bryant L. Crenshaw	...	Midget
Daniel Martin	...	Jarrod
Nathan Rutherford	...	Karl
Max Perlich	...	Cole
Bernadette Resha	...	Cassidey
Linda Manz	...	Solomon's Mother
Donna Brewster	...	Albino Woman
James David Glass	...	Tummler's Father
Mark Gonzales	...	Chair Wrestler
Berniece M. Duvall	...	Grandmother (as Berniece N. Duvall)
Kristi Faye Randolph	...	Deaf Woman
William Dickinson	...	Deaf Man
Bill Evans	...	Bald Guy
Jeffery Baker	...	Terry
James Baker	...	Phelipo
Rose Shephard	...	Woman in Bed

Directed by
Harmony Korine

Writing credits
Harmony Korine		(written by)

Produced by
Stephen Chin	....	executive producer
Scott Macaulay	....	co-producer
Robin O'Hara	....	co-producer
Ruth Vitale	....	executive producer
Cary Woods	....	producer

Cinematography by
Jean-Yves Escoffier

Film Editing by
Christopher Tellefsen

Casting by
Lyn Richmond

Production Design by
David Doernberg

Art Direction by
Amy Beth Silver

Set Decoration by
Amy Beth Silver

Costume Design by
Chloë Sevigny

Makeup Department
Mia Thoen	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Kelly MacManus	....	executive in charge of production
Lisa Rosenstein	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Angelique Bones	....	second assistant director
James Clauer	....	second unit director
Randy Fletcher	....	first assistant director

Art Department
George E. Boyd	....	carpenter
Anthony Gasparro	....	property master
Macon Murphree	....	assistant props
Robert Owen	....	carpenter
George R. Rabasca	....	carpenter
Andrea Stanley	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Steve Borne	....	sound designer
Bradford L. Hohle	....	sound engineer: Dolby
Leo Madrazo	....	foley artist
Brian Miksis	....	sound mixer
Branka Mrkic	....	dialogue editor
Aaron J. Rudelson	....	boom operator (as Aaron Rudelson)
Reilly Steele	....	sound re-recording mixer
Melissa Zaroff	....	sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Bruce Birmelin	....	still photographer
Brian 'Buzz' Buzzelli	....	best boy grip (as Brian Buzzelli)
Geb Byers	....	first assistant camera: 24 frame video
Suzanne Carter	....	gaffer
Howard Davidson	....	grip: 24 frame video
Christopher Di Croce	....	company grip
Luke Eder	....	additional assistant camera
Randall Falcon	....	camera loader
Jay Feather	....	additional assistant camera
Dave Fortino	....	dolly grip (as David Fortino)
Jacques Jouffret	....	Steadicam operator
Dean Mathers	....	assistant key grip
Michelle McKinley	....	first assistant camera
Dee Nichols	....	key grip
Heather Norton	....	second assistant camera: 24 frame video
Thomas Ostrowski	....	gaffer: 24 frame video
Nathan Wilson	....	second assistant camera

Casting Department
Nicole Hennessey	....	casting associate

Editorial Department
April Blair	....	post-production assistant
Rodney Evans	....	assistant editor
Chris Hinton	....	colorist
Brent Kaviar	....	post-production services
Sara King	....	executive in charge of post-production
Fabian Marquez	....	post-production coordinator
Craig Marsden	....	assistant film editor
Misako Shimizu	....	first assistant editor

Music Department
Anne Kugler	....	music consultant
Christopher S. Parker	....	music clearance
Randall Poster	....	music supervisor
Robin Urdang	....	music coordinator

Transportation Department
Steve T. Goforth	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Joshua Balog	....	production assistant
Claire Best	....	production executive
Sean Casey	....	production assistant
Catherine Choi	....	assistant: Independent Picture
James Clauer	....	location manager
Alex David	....	assistant office coordinator: New York (as Alexander David)
Joshua Elrod	....	production assistant
Lyle Gamm	....	production assistant
Elizabeth Heeden	....	film conformist
Michael Johnson	....	production auditor
Molly Johnson	....	assistant: Independent Picture
Ernie Karpeles	....	animal coordinator
Jeff Kohr	....	production assistant
James A. McCann II	....	assistant production office coordinator
Tanoa Parks	....	location auditor
Monika Petrillo	....	script supervisor (as Monika von Manteuffel)
Alec Raffin	....	assistant: Independent Picture
Lizzie Schwartz	....	assistant: Independent Picture (as Elizabeth Schwartz)
Craig Seti	....	video dailies supervisor: Magno Video
Joshua Michael Stevens	....	production assistant (as Joshua Stevens)
Tiffany Thomas	....	production assistant
Joe Violante	....	dailies supervisor: Technicolor
Cordelia Wheelock	....	assistant locations
Heidi Winston	....	production coordinator

Thanks
Liz Manne	....	special thanks
Burt Reynolds	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Fine Line Features
• Independent Pictures (II)

Distributors

• Fine Line Features (1997) (USA) (theatrical)
• Cable Hogue Co. (1998) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Lolistar (France)
• Líder Films (Spain)
• Prisvídeo (Portugal)

Other Companies

• Armanda Costanza  cameras supplied by
• Clairmont Camera  cameras supplied by
• DR&A  grip and lighting equipment
• Epstein, Levinsohn, Bodine, Hurwitz & Weinstein  legal services
• Forensic Films  editorial services
• J.G. Films  negative cutting
• Magno Video  kinescope
• Music City Casting  casting associate
• Navesync  24-frame video
• Planet 10 Post  post-production sound services
• REI Media Group  titles and opticals
• Sound One Corporation  re-recording mixing

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive depiction of anti-social behavior of juveniles,including violence, substance abuse,sexuality and language.

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Iceland:16 | Canada:14A (British Columbia) | Canada:16+ (Québec) | Canada:18A (Alberta) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | New Zealand:R18 | Canada:R (Manitoba) | Australia:R | France:-16 | Japan:PG-12 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:NC-17 (original rating) | USA:R (edited for re-rating)

Filming Locations:

Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Company:

Fine Line Features

Trivia:

In the screenplay, Bunny Boy talks, but only during the scene in the swimming pool. He also explains why he has the word MAC tattooed on his fingers: "My parents like to call me that. Mac spelled backward is Cam. Cam is their favorite car... Camaro." He also claims he was born with one fully grown tooth, and his parents "wanted to name me Plak."

Goofs:

Continuity: During the arm wrestling scene, the number of bottles on the table changes between shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Solomon: [voiceover] Xenia, Ohio. Xenia, Ohio. A few years ago, a tornado hit this place. It killed the people, left and right. Dogs died. Cats died. Houses were split open, and you could see necklaces hanging from branches of trees. People's legs and neck bones were sticking out...

Movie Connections:

Featured in Beautiful Losers (2008)

Soundtrack:

Dragonaut

beautiful

I lived in a trailer camp myself as a kid. It was a step up from where we were living before, I'm told. Some of my relatives still live in trailer parks, and some could have easily been extras or actors in this film. It actually makes me think of my own childhood in a very bittersweet, sentimental way.

If this movie repulses you, well, that's only one of it's objectives. If you can see past the horror, and just simply realize that the director is presenting real people in their real environment, devoid of judgment, you are making progress. A huge chunk of America, and indeed most of the Third World, lives just like this. It's just how it is...not evil or to be pitied or condescended to...it's just how life is for a lot of disposable, historically abused White Trash people in our rotting, decaying Republic. And "Gummo" succeeds in that it is almost a travelogue of these

environs, one that is as beautiful as it is horrifying, and full of metaphors about our ugly and beautiful human condition.

The quiet final scene, with the Down's Syndrome afflicted woman singing to

Jesus quite sincerely before "lights out", just as blissful as the only the truly ignorant can be, reminds me a lot of the last photographic work of Diane Arbus, and that is no small compliment. It serves as a counterpoint to the bombastic death metal soundtrack that weaves in and out of the depraved, amoral lives of the metalhead glue-huffing teenagers in the film like a nursery rhyme.

My favorite scene, personally, is where the teenage couple is clumsily

attempting to make out in a totally ruined old shell of a car, in front of a burning mound of what appears to be some creosote-soaked scrap lumber and blown

out tires, as flames and carcinogenic smoke roar up into the night sky. The main male character feels a big ol' cancerous lump on his playmate's breast, and the clumsy groping stops for a minute as the two try to contemplate their hopeless, toxic lives in a dying world.