FEATURE
WAH DO DEM
DIRECTED BY SAM FLEISCHNER & BEN CHASE STARRING SHAUN BONES, NORAH JONES, KEVIN BEWERSDORF, MARK GIBBS & CARL BRADSHAW RELEASED TBC Max is a Brooklyn kid with messy hair, an American Apparel hoodie, and a pair of lime green Ray Bans permanently attached to his face.
When his girlfriend dumps him, he heads off on their romantic Caribbean cruise alone. He is the only loner on the ship, and the only passenger under the age of 65, but this is nothing compared to the trouble he gets into when he reaches Jamaica. When his wallet is stolen, Max is forced to embark on a long and fraught journey to the US Embassy in Kingston, a journey that takes
him through dangerous townships, football obsessed gangs of teenagers, an evening spent celebrating Obama’s election victory in a shack bar, and a terrifying ordeal with a knife-wielding youth. Shaun Bones is a perfect balance of heroic resilience and defeated self-pity and the guerrilla aesthetic of the film helps to make this a ‘slacker’ hit.
★★★★★
TRASH HUMPERS
DIRECTED BY HARMONY KORINE STARRING RACHEL KORINE, BRIAN KOTZUR, CHRIS GANTRY, CHARLES EZELL & TRAVIS NICHOLSON RELEASED TBC Trash Humpers follows a trio of geriatric perverts who butcher innocent people and teach a primary school student to crush doll’s skulls. Korine doesn’t want us to feel empathy for these characters, nor does he make any effort to explore them. Shot like
a chaotic home video; there is no semblance of realism, and no attempt to make the film aesthetically attractive. The three characters are an unsettling mix; the power and virility of young adults mixed with the naïveté and irresponsibility of small
children, all wrapped up in the decaying cadavers of the elderly. There is no denying that this is another thoroughly engrossing, if brutal, film from the eternally indescribable Harmony Korine.
★★★★★
DECEMBER 2009 FAN THE FIRE 31