Spring Breakers [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray]

Director: Harmony Korine Harmony Korine

Overview

Four college coeds find their Florida spring break taking an unexpectedly violent turn after falling in with a local gangster in this surreal black comedy from Harmony Korine (Mister Lonely, Trash Humpers). Left broke and alone on campus as their classmates head to Florida for some fun in the sun, coeds Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), Brit (Ashley Benson) and Cotty (Rachel Korine) steal a car, rob a local diner with plastic guns, and head south with their devoutly religious girlfriend Faith (Selena Gomez) in tow. But when the girls are thrown in jail following a police raid on a beachfront apartment, it looks like the party is over until wild-eyed drug dealer Alien (James Franco) inexplicably posts their bail. Sensing danger, Faith boards a bus bound for school as her three friends fall into a dangerous cycle of drugs and debauchery. Later, a scary run-in with Alien's bitter rival prompts yet another of the girls to hightail it back to campus, leaving the remaining two to embrace their dangerous new lifestyle with reckless abandon.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/09/2013
UPC:	0031398170945
Original Release:	2012
Rating:	R
Source:	LIONSGATE - 600000-AEC LGE
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Language:	English
Time:	1:34:00
Sales rank:	19,612

Special Features

Closed Caption; Deleted scene/outtakes; "Breaking it down: behind Spring Breakers" 3-part featurette; "Harmony's ear candy" - a deeper look at the music score; Vice featurettes: "the ATL twins zone," "the redneck riviera" and "dirtona beach"; Audio commentary with writer/director Harmony Korine; Theatrical trailer/TV spots

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Vanessa Hudgens	Actor,Actor
Selena Gomez	Actor
James Franco	Actor
Ashley Benson	Actor
Rachel Korine	Actor
Cliff Martinez	Performer,Composer
Skrillex	Performer,Composer
Gucci Mane	Performer,Actor
Ash Lendzion	Actor
Emma Holzer	Actor
Heather Morris	Actor
Megan Russell	Actor
Lee Irby	History Professor
Jeff Jarrett	Youth Pastor
Russell Curry	DJ
Josh Randall	Jock 1
Ken Anthony II	Archies Thug-club
Jeph Cangé	Archie's Thug
Vivian Fleming-Alvarez	Bridemaid
Rod Grant	Groomsman
Carlee Miller	Tourist on Bus
B.J. Parker	Jail Inmate
Sidney Sewell	ATL Twin,ATL Twin
Dayton Sinkia	Arcade Player
Cait Taylor	Tiffany
Lauren Vera	Spring Breaker

Technical Credits

Harmony Korine

Harmony Korine	Director,Screenwriter
David Zander	Producer
Jordan Gertner	Producer
Charles-Marie Anthonioz	Producer
Chris Hanley	Producer
Megan Ellison	Executive Producer,Producer
Vikram Chatwal	Executive Producer,Producer
Wicks Walker	Executive Producer,Producer
Ted Field	Executive Producer,Producer
Agnès B.	Executive Producer,Producer
Vince Jolivette	Executive Producer,Producer
Aeysha Walsh	Executive Producer,Producer
Chris Contogouris	Executive Producer,Producer
Jane Holzer	Executive Producer,Producer
Fernando Sulichin	Executive Producer,Producer
Stella Schnabel	Executive Producer,Producer
Miles Levy	Executive Producer,Producer
Laray Mayfield	Casting
Alex Altman	Sound Effects
Agnès B	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

Harmony Korine combines leering exploitation with pitch-black satire in Spring Breakers, an audacious, sun-kissed nightmare that folds the director's familiar flair for the surreal into a narrative framework that results in his most coherent (and accessible) picture to date. While it may be a bit of a stretch to claim that Korine's vision as a filmmaker has "matured" given the amount of debauchery on display here, his grotesque caricature of youth pop culture appears to come from a more studied and controlled place than, say, Trash Humpers, but without sacrificing the discomforting undercurrent of danger that runs through many of his movies. Left broke and alone on campus as their classmates head to Florida for some fun in the sun, coeds Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), Brit (Ashley Benson), and Cotty (Rachel Korine) steal a car, rob a local diner, and head south with their devoutly religious girlfriend Faith (Selena Gomez) in tow. But when the girls are thrown in jail following a police raid on a beachfront hotel room, it looks like the party is over. That is, until wild-eyed, cornrowed drug dealer Alien (James Franco) inexplicably posts their bail. Rightly sensing danger from the self-professed "gangster with a heart of gold," Faith boards a bus bound for school as her three friends fall into a dangerous cycle of drugs and depravity. Later, a scary run-in with Alien's bitter rival Archie (Gucci Mane) prompts another one of the girls to hightail it back to campus, leaving the remaining two to embrace their dangerous new lifestyle with reckless abandon. From the opening shots of topless beach revelers getting blasted with cheap beer as Skrillex's Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites blares on the soundtrack, it's readily apparent that Korine is mocking the behavior of the typical spring breaker at the same time he's celebrating it. Of course, that contradiction may prove hard for viewers to process -- this is one of those films that straddles the line between satire and sincerity so stealthily that one could see it becoming a staple of sororities if taken at face value -- but as Candy, Brit, and Cotty fall for Alien's malevolent charm, Korine's warped sensibilities reveal a certain amount of contempt for this youthful rite of passage. Yet thanks to Gomez, whose nuanced performance subtly pulls Faith's internal conflict to the surface as she succumbs to the temptation to escape with her friends, Korine confounds our expectations of where the story will lead while simultaneously following his ideas through to their logical conclusions. Naturally, logic and reality seem to be in short supply as the girls meet Alien and the mood of the film turns downright ominous, but Korine's method of contrasting small, honest, and intimate moments against broader, more explicit, and evocative imagery is the key to Spring Breakers' ability to keep us laughing even as two of the girls go packing and the others trade their fun in the sun for a much darker means of cutting loose. True, the story may prove skeletal and the character arcs nonexistent, but Korine is primarily concerned with tone here, and love him or hate him, that's one aspect of filmmaking he excels at. Yes, there are moments in Spring Breakers when it feels like Korine is getting a twisted thrill out of jamming his camera in the crotches of Disney girls gone wild, but there's no doubt that his scantily clad starlets are in on the joke. They certainly show no fear in shedding the innocent images their careers were built on, and due to Korine's skillful use of repetition combined with Douglas Crise's unconventional editing, we become as mesmerized by hedonistic liturgy as the protagonists. Likewise, cinematographer Benoit Debie (Dario Argento's The Card Player and Gaspar Noé's Enter the Void) employs the garish color scheme of a vivid fever dream gone horribly awry, a tone that's perfectly complimented by Cliff Martinez and Skrillex's intense electronic score. Meanwhile, at the intersection between funny and frightening sits Franco. As the character we're never quite sure we should laugh at or run from, his presence is one of the most compelling things about Spring Breakers and proves a key component in maintaining the film's addictively off-kilter tone. Korine and Franco throw caution to the wind in a bid to endear us to Alien, and for the most part, their efforts pay off handsomely. The twisted tenderness shared by the oddball character and his coed followers is best represented by an unforgettable sequence that finds Alien singing a Britney Spears ballad to the girls, donning pink balaclavas and automatic assault rifles against the backdrop of a scenic Florida sunset. As the scene fades into a montage of the group hog-tying frat boys and holding up a wedding, Spring Breakers becomes genuinely transgressive, transcending genre to become something entirely unique. Given that precious few filmmakers are adventurous enough to even attempt such a feat, that's quite an accomplishment unto itself, and reason enough to recommend this picture to any moviegoer who, like the main characters, craves a reminder of what it feels like to be truly alive.