Trash Humpers

Director: Harmony Korine
Year Released: 2009
Rating: 2.0

And by golly, do they hump that trash something fierce. Disturbing but limited video art by one of America's key cinematic provocateurs - there aren't too many (oh hello, Mr. Gallo) - is, in essence, seventy plus minutes of "mutants" (Korine & Co. in masks) behaving like degenerates (mock-humping things, killing people, destroying shit). "Narrative" gets tossed away (and violated) as does dialogue, character development and those kinds of things, but the absence of standard filmmaking techniques is precisely the point: the use of VHS and VCRs to record and edit (of course, the sound is professionally mixed) gives it an eerie, snuff-film quality, and like Lynch, Korine is entranced by the idea of the mentally ill trying to function. Duration is an issue: this could have easily 'concluded' half-way through and avoided the monotony that sets in. Distinctive, dumb and unforgettable, for better or worse.