Thursday, July 25, 2013

Fabulous Filmic Fashion and more: SPRING BREAKERS

FABULOUS FILMIC FASHION is back with a bang, providing you with the hottest summer wear from the coolest flick of this year so far. And probably a lot bit of non-fashion related raving. Spring Break Forever, Bitches.


Harmony Korine's layered, colourful and inspiring portrayal of the annual American celebration of hedonism entitled 'Spring Break' is by far my favorite movie of the year so far. Since his latest movie is the first I've seen and on the way to become my favorite of 2013, I can't help but notice how similar these circumstances are to my introduction to Wes Anderson through Moonrise Kingdom last year. If you remember, it was one of those instant favorites that soon led to an obsession, making me watch every single one of Anderson's movies (even though they're not that many).

Much like Moonrise Kingdom, Spring Breakers is a very stylish movie with visuals that are almost painfully beautiful, the bright colours burning their way through your retina into your heart. A small and interesting difference between the two movies may be that while there's one incontestably heavenly creature in Moonrise Kingdom and the rest are rather quirky beauties, in Spring Breakers each of the four main characters is an incontestably heavenly creature (look-wise anyways) and Alien is a rather quirky... beauty.

Give me one of these bikinis and I won't go shopping for clothes for a year.


One of the reasons why people talked about Spring Breakers a lot even before it came it, was its cast. "Disney princesses" is what most people nicknamed Wizards-of-Waverly-Place-star Selene Gomez and Vanessa Anne Hudgens of High School Musical fame. Their appearance in provocative, perhaps even scandalous, filmmaker Korine's latest project was met by sarcasm and reluctance by many. The general opinion, at least from what I gathered, was that they were simply trying to get rid of their Disney 'image'. Being a part of the Disney Channel generation, I personally was stoked when I heard of this movie and its cast, because I did think that these two girls had talent. And anyone who has in fact seen some of their movies or a more than 15 minutes of their show(s) would probably agree. It's not like I thought they were some Saoirse Ronan or Jennifer Lawrence caliber, but I liked what they did with what was available. Anyways, I thought that both Gomez and Hudgens were amazing in this movie. Admittedly, Gomez as the virginal 'Faith' didn't stray very far from her innocent image but she fit her role wonderfully - and as for Hudgens playing seductive 'Candy': she blew me away.

I love how relaxed the style of the girls is too... And ice cream hasn't been as sexy since A Clockwork Orange.

The quartet is completed by Rachel Korine as adventurous Cotty and Pretty Little Liar Ashley Benson as Candy's BFF Brit. The friendship of these four girls is shown to have many different layers. For one, if there's an outsider between the four, it's Faith. She's the first to leave and doesn't get involved with the illegal things going on. Then there's Cotty, who at first seems like the most adventurous of all four, but then leaves some time after Faith. The reason she too seems like an outsider at times is the strong friendship between Candy and Brit. They're very alike - unafraid, promiscuous and seductive - and spend most of the time in the movie together. And even though James Franco as Alien is clearly the one to earn accolades for this movie, Bensons and Hudgens' performances are the ones to be mentioned right after his. They're the ones who steal the money, party hardest and have that crazy bed scene with Alien and the guns. You really can't give Hudgens any more of that 'Disney Princess' shit after that scene. Oh, and since we're supposed to be talking fashion here - Brit and Candy even look alike. Yes, Candy's hair is dyed - but it is blonde. They both wear a pink-ish bikini most of the time and at the end wear the exact same neon-yellow bikini along with pink ski masks (which can be bought here). 


While we're at it; I don't usually like monokinis - but how gorgeous was that purple tiger one the now-trio wore when they became involved with Alien? For whatever reason, it's sold out but I still have hope and check it once a week. The sweatpants saying DTF on the back are cute as well, I believe you can find them online somewhere.


But let's not forget to talk about Al aka Alien - the most intriguing character in not only this movie, but of all the movies I've seen lately. Sadly, it was impossible for me to go into this movie not knowing anything about his crazy, perfect performance - but in the end, nothing could've prepared me for what I saw. Spring Breakers is a movie about girls - their dreams, hopes and friendship. And what makes Franco's performance stand out all the more, is that it doesn't overshadow that central aspect, that central subject of this movie. It's just amazing by itself, a perfect part of a movie that is perfect to me. 

Alien is nothing else but what his name implies - fucking crazy and outlandish. It sort of helps that there's nothing left of Franco's heartthrob charm what with all the hair, sunglasses and fake teeth going on there. He simply isn't attractive in the slightest. But it's not only the looks - it's the acting that makes it all work and that makes me hope for an Oscar nomination next year. This movie may not be Oscar material - but man, if his performance isn't I don't know what I'll do.

The colours... gahh... so perfect

What I like about Alien, and this movie in general, is that it doesn't judge its characters or their actions at all. Korine doesn't yell at us to like or dislike this or that person, he simply shows them as they are with their good sides, their bad sides, and all the many shades in between. You almost explore the characters, stumbling upon one unexpected side after another. One of my favorite moments in the movie is when the three girls (Faith, my favorite character, has left already) stand outside at sunrise or sunset and gather around Alien's piano. The mere fact that he has a piano, a white one at that, was quite surprising yet natural at the same time. But there's more to come; when the girls ask him to sing something inspiring, Alien chooses Britney Spears' Everytime. And so the four stand there, at the white piano, with the red sun in the background and sing that heartbreaking song, which then changes to Britney Spears singing while several shots of the quartet robbing people in slow-mo are seen on screen.
This moment alone makes Spring Breakers my favorite movie of 2013. (I should say so far, but I really don't think any other movie is going to change my opinion).

The reason I've been wearing lip gloss all the time this summer.

I've mentioned my love for Selena Gomez' character Faith already, but let me just extend a little on that. First of all, her bikini. I would do many, many things to get my hands on that bikini, perhaps even rob a diner. Even the other one, the light turquoise with matching shorts is dashing, but this one just has a special place in my fashion heart. Faith herself, as I've already mentioned, is a very innocent and virginal character - a very pure character in fact. She's religious, which her name may imply, and in her first scenes we see her at church, praying and singing. Her friends from that church tell her not to go on Spring Break with Candy, Brit and Cotty, since they seem dangerous and bad for Faith. She also doesn't get involved with the actual stealing of the money and isn't seen doing anything "bad" at Spring Break itself, although she definitely has a lot of fun like she tells her grandma on the phone. The monologues from these phone calls are repeated many times throughout the movie, the best example being at the end of the movie - but you'll have to see it yourself, I'm not going to spoil that. I found Faith to be the most relatable character for me - the way she talks to her experienced friends, not exactly shyly but well, innocently. Gomez shines in the scene you can see in the middle of the three images, where she wants to go home and not get involved with any of Alien's business. And when she does leave, it feels like a dagger in your chest - to leave that place, that experience, that you know will never come back that way.


The whole experience of Spring Break in the movie feels like something very precious - temporal, a deadline already set - something you want to put inside a box so you can let a bit of it out if you feel sad later on in your life. It's one of those things you can only do at some certain point in your life, and you know that you can just never experience it again. The mixture of artlessness and sexiness that is sensed through the images and the dialogue is so natural, so relatable - as are the conversations between the girls. You sometimes just hear them laughing and whispering in the background, or singing Hit Me Baby One More Time in a deserted parking lot, the Florida heat billowing through the screen. Everything feels like something you could experience, maybe you have experienced parts of it - and many parts you definitely want to experience. 


Drama, Dramedy, Satire, Future Cult Film - many attempts have been made to put Spring Breakers into a box. But truth be told, it can't be. It exists in its own bubblegum-coloured, Britney Spears accompanied, dyed, bikini-wearing, sandy little galaxy that is daunting, escapist and inspiring all at the same time, and that's what makes me love, love, love it so very much.

And since we didn't really talk much fashion - regardless of how pretty the images were - here's a little treat to all aspiring Spring Break bitches: I just stumbled upon the Opening Ceremony Spring Breakers Collection, created in collaboration with costume designer Heidi Bivens. As if my life wasn't awesome enough yet.


FINAL FRAME: STRAWBERRY EXPLOSION

14 comments:

  1. Glad to find someone dug Spring Breakers as much as I did. Favourite film of 2013, by far, and probably one of my favourite films now, hands down.

    Like you, I am all for the clothes in this one. Bought a pink balaclava for about £2 on eBay and, once October rolls round, or any kind of fancy dress party, I've already got my costume waiting in the wings. Didn't realise they were selling the balaclavas on Etsy, otherwise I would have nabbed one up! Then again, it's nice to have something that is a piece of clothing inspired from a film, book, whatever, rather than a carbon copy of the thing itself.

    You've written about Breakers so articulately I know I wouldn't have been able to give it as much justice, in writing, as you have done. (Probably why I ended up making an inspired playlist of songs that I thought could have been in the film that I posted on my bloggie a couple of weeks ago.)

    Beautiful post, though, and looking forward to hopefully hearing more of your thoughts about this one!

    (Knew that you dug it when I saw you'd changed your DP on Twitter, matching my Spring Breakers one now too!)

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    1. And so am I! It'll probably be in my 100 Favourite Movies once I've re-watched it.

      I sort of agree that it's better to have an inspired piece of clothing, although I really want one of the pieces from the Opening Ceremony collection. I guess they're inspired too, but it's closer to a carbon copy in my opinion.

      Thanks! I often find it difficult to write about a movie I absolutely loved, but somehow the words just came out of nowhere, and I'm very happy about that. Oh, and I have to check out your post!

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  2. I really liked the movie, so far it's in my top 5 of the year. I didn't see Gomez in anything but she was believable here. My favorites were the two last girls standing - the ending was very inspiring and I kept rooting for these two to keep doing things on their own terms.

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    1. That's great! As I said, Hudgens and Benson were my favorites acting-wise as well, and I liked their characters a lot too. Even though they're quite different from myself as a person.
      The ending is one of my favorites of all time already.

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  3. Oh, something to mention as well, Rookie food am interview with the costume designer for Breakers that you'd really like. Id link it to you but I'm on my phone and it is pretty much impossible for me to copy and paste links easily at least.

    Also sorry if there are two similar comments from me in this post. Was writing a comment on my phone, it died, and I rewrote the reply as much as I could remember it back at home!

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    1. It's fine, I deleted the first comment since the new one was a bit more extensive :)
      I'll try to look up that link as well as your post.

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  4. Great post! I was so surprised how captivated I was by this film. I definitely saw that Spring Breakers collection, but THAT much for a hoodie with a unicorn!? Don't get me wrong...this would be a super fun Halloween costume, but not for that price!

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    1. If I lived in the US I'd buy something from the collection but the shipping costs are too high... Thanks, good to hear you enjoyed the movie!

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  5. I think I love Spring Breakers more than I hoped for. I do love the festive colors. But sometimes I couldn't help but think to wrap those girls with blankets, ahah. Good post!

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    1. I loved it just as much as I had hoped for, but more than I had expected ;) Well, I guess it's pretty hot in California so I didn't have any of those thoughts. Thanks, Andina!

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  6. I'll be honest, I hated Spring Breakers on first watch (although I still thought/think it had one of the best movie openings like ever!). But, since I watched it a month and a half ago, I haven't been able to get it out of my head to the point where I'm growing fond of it...I'm gonna buy the DVD and rewatch it because I'm starting to think it's brilliant. And reviews like yours help to sway me.

    Beautiful that you mention how the film feels like a time capsule. Just imagine how nostalgic we'll feel when we watch this film years from now. I love the soundtrack and the constantly repeating dialogue. And the visuals. Man, one of the best looking films of all time.

    Everybody's been clamoring for Franco to get some type of awards notice for his role, but I feel Selena Gomez surpasses him here. I knew she was good from Wizards of Waverly, but I didn't know she could be that affecting. The scenes where she's breaking down are so sad to watch, and yes indeedy her character is the most relatable. Shoot, I would have high-tailed the hell out of there too, and I've been in situations like hers before.

    Anyways, best review of this film so far. You really didn't miss anything! Great job, Mette.

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    1. Aww, thank you so much!
      That's an interesting story you got there, stuff like that doesn't happen very often. At least personally I don't change my mind that drastically about a movie frequently. Well, I'm happy to hear you changed your opinion from hating it to thinking it's nearly brilliant and not the other way around ;)

      I already feel nostalgic thinking about this movie now, hahah... And I'll feel even more that way once summer is gone. But yeah, it's a culty film, and films like that tend to become very nostalgia inducing.

      Selena Gomez was great, wasn't she? I loved her in the exact same scenes, and that's when I went "Oh my God, she really has got it". The way she reacted was so relatable and I also remember reacting almost the same way myself to some similar situations so yeah. It's awesome.

      So let's head out and buy the DVD soon and we can maybe talk about it again :D

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  7. Wow, this is a fantastic post. So detailed and well assembled. Seriously, great work. Love reading praise for this film, and I have yet to read anything about the costumes, so this post was crazy insightful!

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    1. You're making me blush! I'm so happy you like the post - and the movie, as it seems. Spread the love.

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Let the discussion begin!