Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
After four college girls rob a restaurant to fund their spring break in Florida, they get entangled with a weird dude with his own criminal agenda.
Spring Breakers is a genuinely singular piece of neo-noir filmmaking — Harmony Korine's neon-drenched, hypnotic fever dream of American hedonism and moral dissolution earns high marks for its distinctive visual style and conception. Benoit Debie's cinematography is legitimately stunning, bathing every frame in candy-colored light that makes the film unmistakable. The cast — particularly James Franco's unhinged Alien — delivers committed, unusual performances that suit the film's surrealist register. However, the plot is deliberately thin and repetitive, more mood piece than narrative, which alienates many viewers and drags in its midsection. The ending feels abrupt and undercooked, resolving the escalating tension with a cartoonishly swift confrontation that doesn't fully pay off the psychological unease the film so carefully builds.