Selling "Spring Breakers"

You've probably seen the ads for "Spring Breakers," featuring four teenage girls in colorful bikinis, including former Disney Channel moppets Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens. James Franco is on some of the posters, sporting sunglasses and dreadlocks, looking like he'll be providing the comic relief. The girls are posing and doing their best to look sexy, selling the idea that "Spring Breakers" is going to be another party movie like "Project X" or "21 & Over," where the young protagonists have fun behaving badly and getting into outrageous situations. Some of the marketing hints that the girls indulge in some criminal activity to fund their trip to Florida, giving the movie a little more edge. But surely, "Spring Breakers" would be like all the rest of these weightless, substance-free films that glorify being young and irresponsible, right? It's just more commercial fodder to reel in high school and college audiences, right?

It's easy to imagine Hollywood coming up with the kind of "Spring Breakers" movie that the trailers are selling, except that they didn't. The director and writer of "Spring Breakers" is Harmony Korine, the filmmaker behind such low-budget titles as "Gummo" and "Kids," whose work is a fixture of the American art house circuit. This is why a trailer for "Spring Breakers" premiered at Cannes, and the film had an early limited release in a few cities last week. "Spring Breakers" has also been getting mixed to positive reviews from critics, who are not treating it as disposable fluff, but the latest work from a major auteur. There's been praise in particular for the social criticism and satirical bent of "Spring Breakers" as it examines the hedonism of its young subjects, elements that are likely to go over the heads of many mainstream viewers. At first it might seem strange that Korine would pick this kind of subject matter, but most of his earlier films are also about kids behaving badly, dysfunctional communities, and the effects of warped or absent morality. The film's marketing campaign has been doing a good job of attracting attention from teenagers and young adults, but because of its art house bona fides, "Spring Breakers" has also been stirring interest among us old fogey pretentious cineastes who haven't taken a spring break in decades.

Of course as far as Hollywood is concerned, it's the kids who want to see "Spring Breakers" that matter most, which is why Korine is getting more attention this week than he has in years, on the verge of having a really substantial hit movie on his hands. By all accounts, "Spring Breakers" isn't your typical party film, but something darker and stickier that gets into the potential consequences of the partiers' behavior. Franco's character is actually a gangster named Alien, who gets the girls mixed up in some big trouble. Still, the content is reportedly racy enough that it should satisfy the moviegoers who just want to see the girls in bikinis. Honestly, I don't think the studios really care what the audiences think of the film as long as it gets them into the theaters. They regularly package some truly heinous dreck to sell to eager movie fans, especially around this time of the year. Why not do the same with an art film that would otherwise only attract a fraction of the viewers? It's hard to feel guilty about the misleading marketing in this case, when it's actually working in the favor of an interesting director and a decent film for once. Contrary to the rumors, Harmony Korine has not sold out, if the man who made "Trash Humpers" is even capable of such a thing. And the studios are doing exactly what we expect them to do - sell the movie in whatever way that it can.

It's going to be very interesting to see how the typical young adult crowd reacts to "Spring Breakers" this weekend. Will they feel that they go their money's worth? Are any of the film's satirical points going to penetrate? Are people just going to focus on the former Disney Channel stars in extremely sexualized roles? I've already heard several predictions that "Spring Breakers" is destined to become a cult film. But if it does become a hit, what then? Are we going to see other indie movies with similar pedigrees released in a similar fashion? Well A24, the distribution and finance company behind "Spring Breakers," is also handling Sofia Coppola's next movie, "The Bling Ring," which is also about a group of attractive young reprobates. From the teaser trailer they've released, it looks like they're using the same marketing tactics that they did with "Spring Breakers." There's lots of emphasis on the fun and the sex, and not so much on the actual plot of the film, based on the 2009 Hollywood Hills burglaries.

Boy, I hope they get away with this.
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