Gummo

"Life is beautiful, without it, you'd be dead!"

I love film-fest movies. The one thing that Ms. Wittlin has instilled in me is my love for such films. Every weekend I indulge in 2-3 film-fest movies, and the one I came across this weekend was Gummo. I can't quite decide whether I love this film or hate it, but one thing for certain is that it is a disturbingly charming piece.

While watching the movie, I couldn't get Sailor out of my head. The plots were just far too similar; a group of nihilist children who isolate themselves from the world and adopt a feline friend of their own. The movie had me sitting on the edge of my seat for an entire hour, every scene was disturbing and beautiful in the same breath. The film reeks of originality, and I guess the entire film serves as a representation of the futility of life. Although the contents of the film may feel foreign to many of the viewers; the strange, off-putting narration made me feel almost intrusive on the lives of these alienated children. Nihilism should not exist as an exclusively black and white term, it should instead be considered as a spectrum, as even the most desolate children, like the ones found in "Gummo", find meaning in the smaller intricacies of life. The strength of human connection; most notably friendship, is present in both Gummo and Sailor.

If sailor was set in the American south, I suppose it would end up something like this movie.