Open Forum Friday: Harmony Korine… Genius or Degenerate?

Posted by on March 22nd, 2013   Filed under: Open Forum Friday

openforumharmonykorine

From the very start of Harmony Korine’s filmmaking career, which was initiated by writing the screenplay for Larry Clark’s Kids back in 1995, his work has divided both audiences and critics alike. Over twenty years later, he is still coming up with challenging films like Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy and Trash Humpers that serve to puzzle and provoke. Now with Spring Breakers opening on over 1000 screens this weekend, I think it’s safe to say that he is about to get the most exposure he has ever had. Is he finally heading for mainstream acceptance or is he about to infuriate hordes of unsuspecting moviegoers?

Although I am always curious to see what Harmony Korine will do next, I will admit that I don’t always buy into his films as particularly deep or brilliant. They can be funny and they definitely count as “art”, especially since it often seems that his goal is to simply get a reaction from people. Visually he also brings some striking images to the table, but at the same time he can present some pretty unpleasant things just for kicks. What do you think? Are you a fan of Harmony Korine? Is there a purpose to his madness or do the means justify the ends? Are his films transcendent or are they just trash? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.



  • piggystardust

    The only movie of his I’ve seen is Mister Lonely which I liked a great deal but didn’t love. Someone on Letterboxd was very on point when they said in their review that the movie has a feeling of being reverse engineered. He came up with a cool image and then worked backwards from there to find how he could get to said image and built a loose narrative around that. The idea behind Trash Humpers intrigues me. I wanna see that next. So, genius? Perhaps not! But a fine visual artist to be sure.

  • Austin

    It’s probably not the best way to find out if Korine is either a genius or not, but he recently did an AMA on Reddit. It might be worth a check out.

    http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1at6kp/im_harmony_director_of_spring_breakers_ama/

  • darksiders

    degenerate genius?

  • Whether you like his movies or not, I think what he’s doing he’s doing on purpose and is very aware of their place and style. He’s a manipulator… And in my eyes, after watching Spring Breakers, is a genius.

  • Henrik

    Is that Harmony Korine? Sure looks different from when he was on letterman back in the day

  • T. Heilman

    He falls into the same category as Von Trier and Solondz. They can be their own worst enemies when they become too self-indulgent and self-aware.

  • Sean Connery

    I don’t want to cast assertions about his self, but his films are utter shit.

  • Dom

    He’s a pervert like the rest of us

  • Cy-Ed

    I dont konw but that picture definitely makes him look like a degenerate

  • reeds romulan lap dance

    please review mister lonely and make greg and reed watch it

  • Steve Kasan

    Degenrate. Genius. Whatever ni99a

    Although I found these two things on the AMA quite profound
    “hat has changed about the film/cinema industry since you got started?
    Do you think America even has an audience for cinema anymore?”
    “cinema has changed. cinema is now a 30 second youtube clip. clear your mind. think of different now. make it bend to you. never use a walking stick, it looks doper to limp. catch my drift?”

    And this
    “Are we going to see lots of titties in the movie?”
    “of course. thats what lifes about.”

  • Sly

    Sometime, somewhere, someone decided that Harmony Korine is a genius. Somewhat overrated.

  • Perry

    I think the man is a genius. I can’t wait to see his mainstream debut.

  • Mike Hunt

    Harmony is definitely a genius. It’s very strange because you have to stick with him and watch his movies several times I thought the first time I saw Gummo that I hated it, but could not stop thinking about it and now it it one of my favorite movies of all time. He shows amazing beauty in the most unlikely of places, like white trash culture, mental illness, criminality, etc.