Harmony Korine
Encyclopedia
The story is told from the perspective of a young man suffering from untreated schizophrenia
, played by Ewen Bremner
, as he tries to understand his deteriorating world. Julien's abusive father is played by Werner Herzog. At one point, Korine was to play the son, but he backed down and was replaced by Bremner.
Like Gummo
and Kids
, it too has since become something of a cult classic, a go-to film for those seeking cinema that is, as Roger Ebert said in his three star review, "shocking for most moviegoers", unlike "the slick aboveground indie productions" that are now the norm.
In 2000 The Devil, The Sinner, and His Journey
premiered, which featured Korine in blackface as O.J. Simpson and the actor Johnny Depp
as Kato Kaelin
.
In 2002, Larry Clark
made the film Ken Park
, based on a script Korine had written several years earlier. The film, another adult tale of youth gone awry, was not distributed in the United States. At the time of its release, Clark and Korine had long since parted ways and Korine had no involvement in its production.
In 2003 he made the television documentary film Above the Below about his friend and collaborator David Blaine
and his 44-day stunt in a park over the bank of River Thames
in London inside a suspended plexiglas
box. A documentary commissioned by Sky Television
and Channel 4
, it also includes jokes, visual poetry, and music. In addition to the documentary, Korine has worked with Blaine on a number of Blaine's specials.
He first met his wife Rachel, a 17-year-old from Nashville, around this time.
, was co-written by his brother, Avi Korine and starred Diego Luna
, Samantha Morton
, Denis Lavant
, Anita Pallenberg
, David Blaine
, Werner Herzog
and Mal Whiteley. The movie was released in 2008 and debuted at Cannes. His largest film with a budget of $8.2 million, it received mixed reviews and earned $386,915 in its first 9 months.
The film is the story of "a young American man lost in Paris. He scratches out a living as a Michael Jackson
look-alike, dancing in the streets, in public parks, at tourist spots and trade shows. Different from everyone else, he feels as if he's floating between two worlds. During a show at a geriatric home Michael Jackson meets Marilyn Monroe
. Haunted by her angelic beauty he follows her to a commune in the Highlands, joining her husband Charlie Chaplin
and her daughter Shirley Temple
. The commune is a place where everyone is famous and "no-one gets old". Here, The Pope
, The Queen of England, Madonna
, James Dean
and other impersonators build a stage in the hope that the world will visit and watch them perform. Everything is beautiful. Until the world shifts, and reality intrudes on their utopian dream."
Korine also appeared in the 2007 documentary film
Beautiful Losers
in which his life and career were one of the focuses of the film, along with other artists such as Mike Mills
, Shepard Fairey
, Margaret Kilgallen, Jo Jackson and Barry McGee
. In the documentary, Korine discusses his motivation as an artist and filmmaker, as well as his inspiration for creating films he has never seen. Footage also appears from one of Korine's rare, early and untitled short films, that preceded his work on Kids.
In 2008 Harmony Korine was signed to MJZ for worldwide commercial representation.
On 6 September 2009 Korine's latest film, Trash Humpers
premiered as part of the Visions section of the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival
. Despite being a work of fiction, the film went on to win the top award at the prominent European documentary film
festival CPH:DOX – Copenhagen International Documentary Festival – in November 2009.
In March 2011, Korine released a short film entitled Umshini Wam
, which is a popular Zulu
struggle song meaning "bring me my machine gun". The film starred Ninja and Yo-Landi of Die Antwoord
.
with a short-lived project known as Fight Harm
, filmed by illusionist David Blaine
. It comprised footage of Korine engaging random people in actual street fights. In these he followed rules of always provoking the fight and continuing until threat of death. Korine, who often said he would die for the cinema, hoped to make a cross between a Buster Keaton vehicle and a snuff film, but after only six fights, he was hospitalized and forced to abandon the project.
Korine had written a story about a pig named Pistachio. The film was to take place during a race war
in Florida and have a boy who would saddle the pig, put adhesive on its feet, climb up walls and throw molotov-cocktails. "It was going to be my masterpiece," Korine comments. The script burnt in a fire and Korine spent $11,000 trying to recover it from his computer. He retrieved one sentence.
was published by Grove Press
, followed by a collection of the screenplays for Gummo
, Julien Donkey-Boy
, and Jokes
in Collected Screenplays, published by Faber and Faber
in 2002. In 2008 the screenplay for Mister Lonely
was released by Swiss publisher Nieves
with photographs by Rachel Korine and Brent Stewart. The majority of these books differ substantially from the movies eventually produced.
In 1998 Korine published a book entitled A Crack Up at the Race Riots
, an experimental novel, described as his attempt to write "the Great American Choose Your Own Adventure
novel" in his appearance on Letterman. In November 2008, Drag City published a collection of his fanzines called The Collected Fanzines with skateboarder/writer Mark Gonzalez. 2009 sees Korine returning to the collaborative zine process alongside fellow avant-garde artist Noel Sinclair Boyt.
. 2002 saw the release of Pass the Bitch Chicken, a collaboration with artist Christopher Wool, which consists of Korine's photographs heavily edited by Korine and Wool. In 2009 he published Pigxote in conjunction with the Vanderbilt University
Fine Arts Gallery and released by Nieves
. The university describes the exhibition, which runs through Feb. 26, 2009, as culling "together a number of photographs from Korine’s private files in order to reveal a side of the artist’s creative process that remains largely unexamined. Depicting an unnamed, mysterious young girl moving through a televised landscape of shifting contexts, Pigxote further illustrates Korine’s interest in replacing plot lines and expected narrative tropes with intuitively arranged “experiential moments.” They also provide a unique insight into the poetic mind of Nashville’s most compelling prodigal son." Most recently his works were presented in a 2003 exhibition at agnès b's Galerie du jour in Paris, with whom Korine has often been associated.
, Cat Power
and Will Oldham
(e.g. No More Workhorse Blues). In addition, he sang on Oldham's "Ease Down The Road", and co-authored the lyrics of Björk
's musical composition "Harm of Will" from her album Vespertine
(2001). In 1999 Korine and Brian Degraw of Gang Gang Dance
released a music CD
SSAB Songs. "I don't really know what it sounds like", Korine explained to i-D
magazine. "I only listened to it once. I think it's the kind of album I'd only listen to once". The tracks labeled "Harmony" on Songs in A&E
are named after Korine by Jason Pierce
of Spiritualized
, who also made the soundtrack to Mister Lonely
. "Harmony Korine" is the lead track on the solo album Insurgentes
by Porcupine Tree lead singer Steven Wilson
.
, Super 8
and 35mm film that makes up Gummo
). Blackface
, tap-dance, and minstrelsy
are common elements to Korine's work. "I'm a huge fan of vaudeville – like Fanny Brice
, Eddie Cantor
, and Al Jolson
... There's this random tragedy associated with the decline of the vaudeville entertainer, which is a theme in Gummo that I completely stole from vaudeville." Like vaudeville
, the narrative of Korine's work is abstract and works by association. Korine compares this concept to a book of private photos. On their own each photo would be seemingly random and devoid of context, but because they are compiled in one volume and presented in succession, a narrative exists. "That's how Gummo was written." Improvisation
is also an important filmmaking technique for Korine, as a way to maintain his movies as "living thing[s]." Korine does not try to write messages or meanings into his scripts, as he finds it belittling to the audience. With his films, Korine strives to retain a "margin of the undefined."
Though mainstream success has eluded Korine, he has gained a significant cult following, inspiring director Fabrizio Federico's Pink8 Manifesto. Despite the scorn of a majority of mainstream reviewers, he has won festival prizes at Venice and Rotterdam, among others, and established directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci
and Gus Van Sant
are outspoken proponents of Korine's work. On Gummo
Van Sant said it "changed his life" and Bertolucci said Korine has "created a revolution in the language of cinema." A significant number of scholarly essays have been written on the importance of his oeuvre to film and art in general.
The Toronto International Film Festival
writes, "Such is the dilemma with Korine and his remarkable career; for all the fireworks, there is an impressive coherence in the subject matter of his work. His four feature films all seek to shed light on a certain class of people: unique and bizarre individuals usually lumped under the heading of 'subculture.' ... His portraits come from many angles – the baroque stillness of Gummo
contrasts radically with the rough-hewn melodrama of Julien Donkey-Boy
. His last film, Mister Lonely
, had an epic quality and interest in celebrity that Trash Humpers
disdains, preferring instead a low-end surveillance-video look with frequent in-camera lighting distortions and a cinéma-vérité authenticity.
Recurrent in his work (with the exception perhaps of Mister Lonely
) is a portrait of what Korine calls the "American Landscape." He recently stated "to me, the most beautiful thing in the world is an abandoned parking lot and a soiled sofa on the edge… with a street lamp off to the side. America seems like a series of abandoned parking lots, streetlights and abandoned sofas." Such a statement gives insight into Korine's complex aesthetic.
Korine has frequently been labeled as an enfant terrible and been accused of exploitation and self-indulgance, to which he has responded, "How can an artist be expected not to be self-indulgent? That's the whole thing that's wrong with filmmaking today... To me, art is one man's voice, one idea, one point-of-view, coming from one person." Korine feels there is no need to justify or explain the images he puts to the screen, in that they are simply the result of "a cinema of passion and obsession." "I mostly just make things to entertain myself and at the same time hope that there’s some type of audience that likes what I’m doing." Korine adds, "Film is like a dead art because of people not taking chances." To Korine, the only films that matter are the auteurist works.
In his films, Korine attempts to convey a poetic, or "estatic truth" as filmmaker and friend, Werner Herzog
termed in his 1999 Minnesota declaration. Korine is also proponent of what he calls a "mistake-ist" artform. During Julien Donkey-Boy
Korine went so far as to write a "Mistakist declaration", which has been published in his Collected Screenplays.
On the current state of cinema, Korine comments, "When I look at the history of film – the early commercial narrative movies directed by D.W. Griffith, say – and then look at where films are now, I see so little progression in the way they are made and presented, and I'm bored with that. Film can be so much more."
On looking for meaning in his films Korine states, "I think people will lose the film as soon as they start trying to figure out my logic or what I'm doing or while they're watching it start to dissect metaphors... I'm not really so interested in it working on a purely cerebral level. I'm much more concerned with it on an emotional level and that you leave feeling a certain way." Korine states that if there is at least one image that sticks with you after viewing the film, then it is a success.
Producer Cary Woods
writes, "I think the best hope for cinema is allowing people who are artists to make a movie that isn't wholly ruled by screenplay structure... [Korine's] a storyteller, and he's gone out of his way to put images that are moving on the screen, and meaningful in some way."
As critic Roger Ebert
said in his review of Julien Donkey-Boy, "Korine, who at 25 is one of the most untamed new directors, belongs on the list with Godard
, Cassavetes
, Herzog
, Warhol
, Tarkovsky
, Brakhage
and others who smash conventional movies and reassemble the pieces... Harmony Korine is the real thing, an innovative and gifted filmmaker whose work forces us to see on his terms."
In 1997, Korine's favorite writers were listed as James Thurber
, S. J. Perelman
, and Flannery O'Connor
. Korine has noted British filmmaker Alan Clarke
as an influence. (See Elephant)
In a 1999 Dazed and Confused
magazine article Korine listed his top ten films as: Pixote
by Hector Babenco
, Badlands
and Days of Heaven
by Terrence Malick
, Fat City
by John Huston
, Stroszek
by Werner Herzog
, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
and A Woman Under the Influence
by John Cassavetes
, McCabe and Mrs. Miller by Robert Altman
, Out of the Blue
by Dennis Hopper
and Hail Mary
by Jean-Luc Godard
.
As director Only:
As writer only:
As actor:
As himself:
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
, played by Ewen Bremner
Ewen Bremner
-Early life:Bremner was born in Edinburgh, the son of two art teachers. He attended Davidson's Mains Primary School and Portobello High School. He originally wanted to be a circus clown, but was offered a chance in show business by television director Richard D. Brooks. One of his first notable...
, as he tries to understand his deteriorating world. Julien's abusive father is played by Werner Herzog. At one point, Korine was to play the son, but he backed down and was replaced by Bremner.
Like Gummo
Gummo
Gummo is a 1997 American independent drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. It was his directorial debut and has since become a cult film. The film stars Jacob Reynolds, Nick Sutton, Jacob Sewell, Chloë Sevigny, Linda Manz and Max Perlich...
and Kids
Kids (film)
Kids is a 1995 drama film written by Harmony Korine and directed by Larry Clark.The film features Chloë Sevigny, Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, Harold Hunter, and Rosario Dawson, all of them in their debut performances...
, it too has since become something of a cult classic, a go-to film for those seeking cinema that is, as Roger Ebert said in his three star review, "shocking for most moviegoers", unlike "the slick aboveground indie productions" that are now the norm.
In 2000 The Devil, The Sinner, and His Journey
The Devil, The Sinner, and His Journey
The Devil, The Sinner, and His Journey is a video featuring Harmony Korine, adorned in blackface, as O.J. Simpson, and Johnny Depp as Kato Kalin.-External links:*...
premiered, which featured Korine in blackface as O.J. Simpson and the actor Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
as Kato Kaelin
Kato Kaelin
Brian Jerard "Kato" Kaelin is an American radio and television personality who gained fame as a witness during the 1994–95 murder trial of O. J. Simpson.-Personal life:...
.
In 2002, Larry Clark
Larry Clark
Lawrence Donald "Larry" Clark is an American film director, photographer, writer and film producer who is best known for the movie Kids and his photography book Tulsa...
made the film Ken Park
Ken Park
Ken Park is a 2002 drama film. The screenplay was written by Harmony Korine, who based it on Larry Clark's journals and stories. The film was directed by Larry Clark and Ed Lachman....
, based on a script Korine had written several years earlier. The film, another adult tale of youth gone awry, was not distributed in the United States. At the time of its release, Clark and Korine had long since parted ways and Korine had no involvement in its production.
In 2003 he made the television documentary film Above the Below about his friend and collaborator David Blaine
David Blaine
David Blaine is an American illusionist and endurance artist. He is best known for his high-profile feats of endurance, and has made his name as a performer of street and close-up magic. He has set and broken several world records...
and his 44-day stunt in a park over the bank of River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
in London inside a suspended plexiglas
Acrylic glass
Poly is a transparent thermoplastic, often used as a light or shatter-resistant alternative to glass. It is sometimes called acrylic glass. Chemically, it is the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate...
box. A documentary commissioned by Sky Television
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
and Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, it also includes jokes, visual poetry, and music. In addition to the documentary, Korine has worked with Blaine on a number of Blaine's specials.
He first met his wife Rachel, a 17-year-old from Nashville, around this time.
Mister Lonely & Trash Humpers (2007-2009)
His third feature film, Mister LonelyMister Lonely
Mister Lonely is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Harmony Korine, and co-written with his brother Avi Korine.-Plot:A young American man living in Paris scratches out a living as a Michael Jackson look-alike, dancing on the streets, public parks, tourist spots and trade shows. During a show in...
, was co-written by his brother, Avi Korine and starred Diego Luna
Diego Luna
Diego Luna is a Mexican actor known for his childhood telenovela work, a starring role in the film Y tu mamá también, and supporting roles in American films. He is also known for his roles in Rudo y Cursi and Milk. Luna also had minor roles in Frida and Before Night Falls...
, Samantha Morton
Samantha Morton
Samantha Jane Morton is an English actress and film director. She began her performing career with guest roles in television shows such as Soldier Soldier and Boon before making her film debut in the 1997 drama film This Is the Sea, playing the character of Hazel Stokes...
, Denis Lavant
Denis Lavant
Denis Lavant is a French film actor known for his distinctive face and the physically demanding aspects of the roles he plays, which often involve slapstick, acrobatics or dance, as well as for his long-standing association with director Leos Carax...
, Anita Pallenberg
Anita Pallenberg
Anita Pallenberg is an Italian-born actress, model, and fashion designer. She was the romantic partner of Rolling Stones multi-instrumentalist and guitarist Brian Jones and later the partner of the guitarist of the same band Keith Richards, from 1967 to 1979, by whom she has two surviving...
, David Blaine
David Blaine
David Blaine is an American illusionist and endurance artist. He is best known for his high-profile feats of endurance, and has made his name as a performer of street and close-up magic. He has set and broken several world records...
, Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
and Mal Whiteley. The movie was released in 2008 and debuted at Cannes. His largest film with a budget of $8.2 million, it received mixed reviews and earned $386,915 in its first 9 months.
The film is the story of "a young American man lost in Paris. He scratches out a living as a Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
look-alike, dancing in the streets, in public parks, at tourist spots and trade shows. Different from everyone else, he feels as if he's floating between two worlds. During a show at a geriatric home Michael Jackson meets Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
. Haunted by her angelic beauty he follows her to a commune in the Highlands, joining her husband Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
and her daughter Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
. The commune is a place where everyone is famous and "no-one gets old". Here, The Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
, The Queen of England, Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, James Dean
James Dean
James Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...
and other impersonators build a stage in the hope that the world will visit and watch them perform. Everything is beautiful. Until the world shifts, and reality intrudes on their utopian dream."
Korine also appeared in the 2007 documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Beautiful Losers
Beautiful Losers (film)
Beautiful Losers is a 2008 documentary feature film by director Aaron Rose and co-directed by Joshua Leonard. It was produced by Sidetrack Films in association with BlackLake Productions, and stars several artists including Harmony Korine, writer of independent cult films Kids and Gummo.It...
in which his life and career were one of the focuses of the film, along with other artists such as Mike Mills
Mike Mills (director)
Michael C. "Mike" Mills is an American film and music video director and graphic designer. He is perhaps best known for his independent films Thumbsucker and Beginners.-Early life:...
, Shepard Fairey
Shepard Fairey
Frank Shepard Fairey is an American contemporary graphic designer, and illustrator who emerged from the skateboarding scene. He first became known for his "André the Giant Has a Posse" sticker campaign, in which he appropriated images from the comedic supermarket tabloid Weekly World News. His...
, Margaret Kilgallen, Jo Jackson and Barry McGee
Barry McGee
Barry McGee is a painter and graffiti artist. He is also known by monikers such as Ray Fong, Lydia Fong, Bernon Vernon, P.Kin, Ray Virgil, Twist and further variations of Twist, such as Twister, Twisty, Twisto and others.-Life and career:McGee graduated from El Camino High School in South...
. In the documentary, Korine discusses his motivation as an artist and filmmaker, as well as his inspiration for creating films he has never seen. Footage also appears from one of Korine's rare, early and untitled short films, that preceded his work on Kids.
In 2008 Harmony Korine was signed to MJZ for worldwide commercial representation.
On 6 September 2009 Korine's latest film, Trash Humpers
Trash Humpers
Trash Humpers is a 2009 American independent drama "film" directed by Harmony Korine. Shot on worn VHS home video, the film features a "loser-gang cult-freak collective" and their whereabouts in Nashville, Tennessee.-Cast:-Production:...
premiered as part of the Visions section of the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival
2009 Toronto International Film Festival
The 34th annual Toronto International Film Festival, was held held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 10 and September 19, 2009. The opening night gala presented the Charles Darwin biography Creation...
. Despite being a work of fiction, the film went on to win the top award at the prominent European documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
festival CPH:DOX – Copenhagen International Documentary Festival – in November 2009.
In March 2011, Korine released a short film entitled Umshini Wam
Umshini wami
Umshini wami, also known as Awuleth' Umshini Wami , is a popular Zulu language "struggle song" used formerly by members of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the African National Congress during the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa...
, which is a popular Zulu
Zulu language
Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...
struggle song meaning "bring me my machine gun". The film starred Ninja and Yo-Landi of Die Antwoord
Die Antwoord
Die Antwoord is a hip hop group from Cape Town, South Africa, consisting of three members: Ninja, Yo-Landi Vi$$er and DJ Hi-Tek.-Background:...
.
Fight Harm
Korine originally intended to follow up GummoGummo
Gummo is a 1997 American independent drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. It was his directorial debut and has since become a cult film. The film stars Jacob Reynolds, Nick Sutton, Jacob Sewell, Chloë Sevigny, Linda Manz and Max Perlich...
with a short-lived project known as Fight Harm
Fight Harm
Fight Harm is an abandoned project by Harmony Korine filmed in 1999. The premise was to verbally provoke passers-by into a fight. The rules were Korine couldn't throw the first punch and the person confronted had to be bigger than Korine. To Korine, Fight Harm was high-comedy reminiscent of Buster...
, filmed by illusionist David Blaine
David Blaine
David Blaine is an American illusionist and endurance artist. He is best known for his high-profile feats of endurance, and has made his name as a performer of street and close-up magic. He has set and broken several world records...
. It comprised footage of Korine engaging random people in actual street fights. In these he followed rules of always provoking the fight and continuing until threat of death. Korine, who often said he would die for the cinema, hoped to make a cross between a Buster Keaton vehicle and a snuff film, but after only six fights, he was hospitalized and forced to abandon the project.
Jokes
Jokes is an unfinished three-part film written by Harmony Korine. The three chapters – Easter, Herpes and Slippers – were to be each directed by different directors.What Makes Pistachio Nuts?
Previous to Mister LonelyMister Lonely
Mister Lonely is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Harmony Korine, and co-written with his brother Avi Korine.-Plot:A young American man living in Paris scratches out a living as a Michael Jackson look-alike, dancing on the streets, public parks, tourist spots and trade shows. During a show in...
Korine had written a story about a pig named Pistachio. The film was to take place during a race war
Race war
Race war is a term referring to developing hostilities between ethnic groups divided on the basis of racial group or skin color. The term may refer to specific violent acts or to general overt or covert hostilities between ethnic groups; compare ethnic conflict.-Manson:The murders perpetrated by...
in Florida and have a boy who would saddle the pig, put adhesive on its feet, climb up walls and throw molotov-cocktails. "It was going to be my masterpiece," Korine comments. The script burnt in a fire and Korine spent $11,000 trying to recover it from his computer. He retrieved one sentence.
Books
Korine has also published a number of books. In 1995 a screenplay for KidsKids (film)
Kids is a 1995 drama film written by Harmony Korine and directed by Larry Clark.The film features Chloë Sevigny, Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, Harold Hunter, and Rosario Dawson, all of them in their debut performances...
was published by Grove Press
Grove Press
Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1951. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United States. The Atlantic Monthly Press, under the aegis of its...
, followed by a collection of the screenplays for Gummo
Gummo
Gummo is a 1997 American independent drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. It was his directorial debut and has since become a cult film. The film stars Jacob Reynolds, Nick Sutton, Jacob Sewell, Chloë Sevigny, Linda Manz and Max Perlich...
, Julien Donkey-Boy
Julien Donkey-Boy
Julien Donkey-Boy is a 1999 independent drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. The screenplay concentrates on the schizophrenic Julien, played by Scottish actor Ewen Bremner, and his dysfunctional family. The film also stars Chloe Sevigny as Julien's sister, Pearl, and Werner Herzog as...
, and Jokes
Jokes (film)
Jokes is an unfinished three-part film by Harmony Korine.-External links:*...
in Collected Screenplays, published by Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, non fiction, drama, film and music...
in 2002. In 2008 the screenplay for Mister Lonely
Mister Lonely
Mister Lonely is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Harmony Korine, and co-written with his brother Avi Korine.-Plot:A young American man living in Paris scratches out a living as a Michael Jackson look-alike, dancing on the streets, public parks, tourist spots and trade shows. During a show in...
was released by Swiss publisher Nieves
Nieves
Nieves is a Spanish surname and a female given name from the title of the Virgin Mary Nuestra Señora de las Nieves meaning "Our Lady of the Snows".-People:Notable people with the surname Nieves:* Ángel Nieves Díaz* José Alvarado Nieves...
with photographs by Rachel Korine and Brent Stewart. The majority of these books differ substantially from the movies eventually produced.
In 1998 Korine published a book entitled A Crack Up at the Race Riots
A Crack Up at the Race Riots
A Crack Up at the Race Riots is a novel written by Harmony Korine, writer of such cult films Kids, and Ken Park. He is also writer/director of Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy, Mister Lonely, and Trash Humpers...
, an experimental novel, described as his attempt to write "the Great American Choose Your Own Adventure
Choose Your Own Adventure
Choose Your Own Adventure is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actions and the plot's outcome. The series was based on a...
novel" in his appearance on Letterman. In November 2008, Drag City published a collection of his fanzines called The Collected Fanzines with skateboarder/writer Mark Gonzalez. 2009 sees Korine returning to the collaborative zine process alongside fellow avant-garde artist Noel Sinclair Boyt.
Art
Korine released a number of photographic collections, usually in conjunction with gallery exhibits. In 1998 he published The Bad Son in conjunction with Taka Ishii gallery in Tokyo, documenting his various photo shoots with Macaulay CulkinMacaulay Culkin
Macaulay Carson Culkin is an American actor. He became widely known for his portrayal of Kevin McCallister in Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. He is also known for his roles in Richie Rich, Uncle Buck, My Girl, The Pagemaster, and Party Monster...
. 2002 saw the release of Pass the Bitch Chicken, a collaboration with artist Christopher Wool, which consists of Korine's photographs heavily edited by Korine and Wool. In 2009 he published Pigxote in conjunction with the Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
Fine Arts Gallery and released by Nieves
Nieves
Nieves is a Spanish surname and a female given name from the title of the Virgin Mary Nuestra Señora de las Nieves meaning "Our Lady of the Snows".-People:Notable people with the surname Nieves:* Ángel Nieves Díaz* José Alvarado Nieves...
. The university describes the exhibition, which runs through Feb. 26, 2009, as culling "together a number of photographs from Korine’s private files in order to reveal a side of the artist’s creative process that remains largely unexamined. Depicting an unnamed, mysterious young girl moving through a televised landscape of shifting contexts, Pigxote further illustrates Korine’s interest in replacing plot lines and expected narrative tropes with intuitively arranged “experiential moments.” They also provide a unique insight into the poetic mind of Nashville’s most compelling prodigal son." Most recently his works were presented in a 2003 exhibition at agnès b's Galerie du jour in Paris, with whom Korine has often been associated.
Music
Korine has directed a number of music videos for artists such as Sonic YouthSonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
, Cat Power
Cat Power
Charlyn Marie Marshall , also known as Chan Marshall or by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer/songwriter and occasional actress and model. Cat Power was originally the name of Marshall's first band, but has come to refer to her musical projects with various backing bands...
and Will Oldham
Will Oldham
Will Oldham , better known by the stage name Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded under variations of the Palace name, including the Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, and Palace Music...
(e.g. No More Workhorse Blues). In addition, he sang on Oldham's "Ease Down The Road", and co-authored the lyrics of Björk
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...
's musical composition "Harm of Will" from her album Vespertine
Vespertine
Vespertine, is the fifth studio album by the Icelandic recording artist Björk, released on 27 August 2001. On this album, Björk creates a quiet, introverted world of microbeats and personal lyrics...
(2001). In 1999 Korine and Brian Degraw of Gang Gang Dance
Gang Gang Dance
Gang Gang Dance is an American experimental music band based in Manhattan, New York City. The band is known for its distinctive sound which features synthesized electronics and percussion, plus the varied vocal styles of singer Lizzi Bougatsos...
released a music CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
SSAB Songs. "I don't really know what it sounds like", Korine explained to i-D
I-D
i-D is a British magazine dedicated to fashion, music, art and youth culture. i-D was founded by designer and former Vogue art director Terry Jones in 1980. The first issue was published in the form of a hand-stapled fanzine with text produced on a typewriter...
magazine. "I only listened to it once. I think it's the kind of album I'd only listen to once". The tracks labeled "Harmony" on Songs in A&E
Songs in A&E
Songs in A&E is the sixth studio album by the group Spiritualized and is their first since 2003's Amazing Grace. It was released on May 26, 2008 in the UK on Sanctuary Records and on May 27 in the USA on Fontana Records. It was released on standard CD worldwide, as well as a limited edition book ...
are named after Korine by Jason Pierce
Jason Pierce
Jason Pierce , also known as J. Spaceman or Spaceman, is an English musician. He was formerly the joint leader – with Peter Kember – of the alternative rock band Spacemen 3, and is now the leader and sole permanent member of the band Spiritualized.In between his work with Spiritualized...
of Spiritualized
Spiritualized
Spiritualized are an English space rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Jason Pierce after the demise of his previous outfit, space-rockers Spacemen 3...
, who also made the soundtrack to Mister Lonely
Mister Lonely
Mister Lonely is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Harmony Korine, and co-written with his brother Avi Korine.-Plot:A young American man living in Paris scratches out a living as a Michael Jackson look-alike, dancing on the streets, public parks, tourist spots and trade shows. During a show in...
. "Harmony Korine" is the lead track on the solo album Insurgentes
Insurgentes (album)
Insurgentes is the title of the first full-length solo album released by British musician and record producer Steven Wilson, known for being the founder and frontman in psychedelic/progressive rock band Porcupine Tree...
by Porcupine Tree lead singer Steven Wilson
Steven Wilson
Steven John Wilson is an English musician, best known as the founder, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree...
.
Themes and influence
Much of Korine's work is based around the dark humor and absurdism involved in dysfunctional childhoods, mental disorders, and poverty. This is often incorporated into surrealist, non-linear forms and presented experimentally (see the mix of PolaroidsInstant film
Instant film is a type of photographic film first introduced by Polaroid that is designed to be used in an instant camera...
, Super 8
Super 8 mm film
Super 8 mm film is a motion picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement of the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format....
and 35mm film that makes up Gummo
Gummo
Gummo is a 1997 American independent drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. It was his directorial debut and has since become a cult film. The film stars Jacob Reynolds, Nick Sutton, Jacob Sewell, Chloë Sevigny, Linda Manz and Max Perlich...
). Blackface
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
, tap-dance, and minstrelsy
Minstrelsy
Minstrelsy can refer to:* The music and poetry of the medieval minstrels.* The songs, dances, skits, and stagecraft of the 19th century American blackface minstrel show....
are common elements to Korine's work. "I'm a huge fan of vaudeville – like Fanny Brice
Fanny Brice
Fanny Brice was a popular and influential American illustrated song "model," comedienne, singer, theatre and film actress, who made many stage, radio and film appearances and is known as the creator and star of the top-rated radio comedy series, The Baby Snooks Show...
, Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor was an American "illustrated song" performer, comedian, dancer, singer, actor and songwriter...
, and Al Jolson
Al Jolson
Al Jolson was an American singer, comedian and actor. In his heyday, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer"....
... There's this random tragedy associated with the decline of the vaudeville entertainer, which is a theme in Gummo that I completely stole from vaudeville." Like vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
, the narrative of Korine's work is abstract and works by association. Korine compares this concept to a book of private photos. On their own each photo would be seemingly random and devoid of context, but because they are compiled in one volume and presented in succession, a narrative exists. "That's how Gummo was written." Improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
is also an important filmmaking technique for Korine, as a way to maintain his movies as "living thing[s]." Korine does not try to write messages or meanings into his scripts, as he finds it belittling to the audience. With his films, Korine strives to retain a "margin of the undefined."
Though mainstream success has eluded Korine, he has gained a significant cult following, inspiring director Fabrizio Federico's Pink8 Manifesto. Despite the scorn of a majority of mainstream reviewers, he has won festival prizes at Venice and Rotterdam, among others, and established directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci is an Italian film director and screenwriter, whose films include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor and The Dreamers...
and Gus Van Sant
Gus Van Sant
Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
are outspoken proponents of Korine's work. On Gummo
Gummo
Gummo is a 1997 American independent drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. It was his directorial debut and has since become a cult film. The film stars Jacob Reynolds, Nick Sutton, Jacob Sewell, Chloë Sevigny, Linda Manz and Max Perlich...
Van Sant said it "changed his life" and Bertolucci said Korine has "created a revolution in the language of cinema." A significant number of scholarly essays have been written on the importance of his oeuvre to film and art in general.
The Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
writes, "Such is the dilemma with Korine and his remarkable career; for all the fireworks, there is an impressive coherence in the subject matter of his work. His four feature films all seek to shed light on a certain class of people: unique and bizarre individuals usually lumped under the heading of 'subculture.' ... His portraits come from many angles – the baroque stillness of Gummo
Gummo
Gummo is a 1997 American independent drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. It was his directorial debut and has since become a cult film. The film stars Jacob Reynolds, Nick Sutton, Jacob Sewell, Chloë Sevigny, Linda Manz and Max Perlich...
contrasts radically with the rough-hewn melodrama of Julien Donkey-Boy
Julien Donkey-Boy
Julien Donkey-Boy is a 1999 independent drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. The screenplay concentrates on the schizophrenic Julien, played by Scottish actor Ewen Bremner, and his dysfunctional family. The film also stars Chloe Sevigny as Julien's sister, Pearl, and Werner Herzog as...
. His last film, Mister Lonely
Mister Lonely
Mister Lonely is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Harmony Korine, and co-written with his brother Avi Korine.-Plot:A young American man living in Paris scratches out a living as a Michael Jackson look-alike, dancing on the streets, public parks, tourist spots and trade shows. During a show in...
, had an epic quality and interest in celebrity that Trash Humpers
Trash Humpers
Trash Humpers is a 2009 American independent drama "film" directed by Harmony Korine. Shot on worn VHS home video, the film features a "loser-gang cult-freak collective" and their whereabouts in Nashville, Tennessee.-Cast:-Production:...
disdains, preferring instead a low-end surveillance-video look with frequent in-camera lighting distortions and a cinéma-vérité authenticity.
Recurrent in his work (with the exception perhaps of Mister Lonely
Mister Lonely
Mister Lonely is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Harmony Korine, and co-written with his brother Avi Korine.-Plot:A young American man living in Paris scratches out a living as a Michael Jackson look-alike, dancing on the streets, public parks, tourist spots and trade shows. During a show in...
) is a portrait of what Korine calls the "American Landscape." He recently stated "to me, the most beautiful thing in the world is an abandoned parking lot and a soiled sofa on the edge… with a street lamp off to the side. America seems like a series of abandoned parking lots, streetlights and abandoned sofas." Such a statement gives insight into Korine's complex aesthetic.
Korine has frequently been labeled as an enfant terrible and been accused of exploitation and self-indulgance, to which he has responded, "How can an artist be expected not to be self-indulgent? That's the whole thing that's wrong with filmmaking today... To me, art is one man's voice, one idea, one point-of-view, coming from one person." Korine feels there is no need to justify or explain the images he puts to the screen, in that they are simply the result of "a cinema of passion and obsession." "I mostly just make things to entertain myself and at the same time hope that there’s some type of audience that likes what I’m doing." Korine adds, "Film is like a dead art because of people not taking chances." To Korine, the only films that matter are the auteurist works.
In his films, Korine attempts to convey a poetic, or "estatic truth" as filmmaker and friend, Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
termed in his 1999 Minnesota declaration. Korine is also proponent of what he calls a "mistake-ist" artform. During Julien Donkey-Boy
Julien Donkey-Boy
Julien Donkey-Boy is a 1999 independent drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. The screenplay concentrates on the schizophrenic Julien, played by Scottish actor Ewen Bremner, and his dysfunctional family. The film also stars Chloe Sevigny as Julien's sister, Pearl, and Werner Herzog as...
Korine went so far as to write a "Mistakist declaration", which has been published in his Collected Screenplays.
On the current state of cinema, Korine comments, "When I look at the history of film – the early commercial narrative movies directed by D.W. Griffith, say – and then look at where films are now, I see so little progression in the way they are made and presented, and I'm bored with that. Film can be so much more."
On looking for meaning in his films Korine states, "I think people will lose the film as soon as they start trying to figure out my logic or what I'm doing or while they're watching it start to dissect metaphors... I'm not really so interested in it working on a purely cerebral level. I'm much more concerned with it on an emotional level and that you leave feeling a certain way." Korine states that if there is at least one image that sticks with you after viewing the film, then it is a success.
Producer Cary Woods
Cary Woods
Cary Woods is a film producer. He produced the first films by Alexander Payne, M Night Shyamalan, Doug Liman, Harmony Korine, Kevin Williamson. Woods helped to fuel the rise of the independent films...
writes, "I think the best hope for cinema is allowing people who are artists to make a movie that isn't wholly ruled by screenplay structure... [Korine's] a storyteller, and he's gone out of his way to put images that are moving on the screen, and meaningful in some way."
As critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
said in his review of Julien Donkey-Boy, "Korine, who at 25 is one of the most untamed new directors, belongs on the list with Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
, Cassavetes
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen...
, Herzog
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
, Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, Tarkovsky
Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director, widely regarded as one of the finest filmmakers of the 20th century....
, Brakhage
Stan Brakhage
James Stanley Brakhage , better known as Stan Brakhage, was an American non-narrative filmmaker who is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th century experimental film....
and others who smash conventional movies and reassemble the pieces... Harmony Korine is the real thing, an innovative and gifted filmmaker whose work forces us to see on his terms."
In 1997, Korine's favorite writers were listed as James Thurber
James Thurber
James Grover Thurber was an American author, cartoonist and celebrated wit. Thurber was best known for his cartoons and short stories published in The New Yorker magazine.-Life:...
, S. J. Perelman
S. J. Perelman
Sidney Joseph Perelman, almost always known as S. J. Perelman , was an American humorist, author, and screenwriter. He is best known for his humorous short pieces written over many years for The New Yorker...
, and Flannery O'Connor
Flannery O'Connor
Mary Flannery O'Connor was an American novelist, short-story writer and essayist. An important voice in American literature, O'Connor wrote two novels and 32 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries...
. Korine has noted British filmmaker Alan Clarke
Alan Clarke
Alan Clarke was a television and film director, producer and writer, born in Wallasey, Merseyside, England.Most of Clarke's output was for television rather than cinema, including work for the famous play strands The Wednesday Play and Play for Today...
as an influence. (See Elephant)
In a 1999 Dazed and Confused
Dazed & Confused (magazine)
Dazed & Confused is a British style magazine, that was set up in 1992 and published monthly. Its founding editors were Jefferson Hack and Rankin...
magazine article Korine listed his top ten films as: Pixote
Pixote
Pixote: a Lei do Mais Fraco , is a Brazilian drama film directed by Hector Babenco. The screenplay was written by Babenco and Jorge Durán, based on the book A infância dos mortos by José Louzeiro....
by Hector Babenco
Hector Babenco
Héctor Eduardo Babenco is an Argentine-born Brazilian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor.He has worked in several countries including Argentina, Brazil and the United States....
, Badlands
Badlands (film)
Badlands is a 1973 American crime drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick, starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. Warren Oates and Ramon Bieri are also featured. Malick has a small speaking part although he does not receive an acting credit...
and Days of Heaven
Days of Heaven
Days of Heaven is a 1978 American romantic drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick and starring Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard and Linda Manz. Set in the early 20th century, it tells the story of two poor lovers, Bill and Abby, as they travel to the Texas Panhandle to harvest...
by Terrence Malick
Terrence Malick
Terrence Frederick Malick is a U.S. film director, screenwriter, and producer. In a career spanning almost four decades, Malick has directed five feature films....
, Fat City
Fat City (film)
Fat City is an American neo-noir boxing drama film directed by John Huston. The picture stars Stacy Keach, Jeff Bridges, and Susan Tyrrell....
by John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
, Stroszek
Stroszek
Stroszek is a 1977 film by German director Werner Herzog. It was written in four days specifically for Bruno S. and was shot in Berlin, two towns in Wisconsin, and in North Carolina. Most of the lead roles are played by non-actors.-Plot:...
by Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
For the 1974 film of the same name see Dynamite BrothersThe Killing of a Chinese Bookie is a 1976 gangster film directed and written by John Cassavetes and starring Ben Gazzara....
and A Woman Under the Influence
A Woman Under the Influence
A Woman Under the Influence is a 1974 American drama film written and directed by John Cassavetes. It focuses on a woman whose psychotic behavior leads her husband to commit her for psychiatric treatment and the effect this has on their family. It received two Academy Award nominations for Best...
by John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen...
, McCabe and Mrs. Miller by Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
, Out of the Blue
Out of the Blue (1980 film)
Out of the Blue is a 1980 film featuring and directed by Dennis Hopper. The film was written and produced by Gary Jules Jouvenat. It competed for the Palme d'Or at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival...
by Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...
and Hail Mary
Hail Mary (film)
Hail Mary is a 1985 French film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard. The film is a modern retelling of the story of a virgin birth. It was entered into the 35th Berlin International Film Festival.-Plot:...
by Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
.
Filmography
As writer/director:- GummoGummoGummo is a 1997 American independent drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. It was his directorial debut and has since become a cult film. The film stars Jacob Reynolds, Nick Sutton, Jacob Sewell, Chloë Sevigny, Linda Manz and Max Perlich...
- Jokes (unfinished)
- Blood of Havana
- Julien Donkey-BoyJulien Donkey-BoyJulien Donkey-Boy is a 1999 independent drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. The screenplay concentrates on the schizophrenic Julien, played by Scottish actor Ewen Bremner, and his dysfunctional family. The film also stars Chloe Sevigny as Julien's sister, Pearl, and Werner Herzog as...
- The Devil, The Sinner, and His JourneyThe Devil, The Sinner, and His JourneyThe Devil, The Sinner, and His Journey is a video featuring Harmony Korine, adorned in blackface, as O.J. Simpson, and Johnny Depp as Kato Kalin.-External links:*...
- The Diary of Anne Frank Pt II
- Mister LonelyMister LonelyMister Lonely is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Harmony Korine, and co-written with his brother Avi Korine.-Plot:A young American man living in Paris scratches out a living as a Michael Jackson look-alike, dancing on the streets, public parks, tourist spots and trade shows. During a show in...
- Trash HumpersTrash HumpersTrash Humpers is a 2009 American independent drama "film" directed by Harmony Korine. Shot on worn VHS home video, the film features a "loser-gang cult-freak collective" and their whereabouts in Nashville, Tennessee.-Cast:-Production:...
- Mac and Plac
- Act Da Fool
As director Only:
- Above the Below
As writer only:
- KidsKids (film)Kids is a 1995 drama film written by Harmony Korine and directed by Larry Clark.The film features Chloë Sevigny, Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, Harold Hunter, and Rosario Dawson, all of them in their debut performances...
- Ken ParkKen ParkKen Park is a 2002 drama film. The screenplay was written by Harmony Korine, who based it on Larry Clark's journals and stories. The film was directed by Larry Clark and Ed Lachman....
As actor:
- KidsKids (film)Kids is a 1995 drama film written by Harmony Korine and directed by Larry Clark.The film features Chloë Sevigny, Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, Harold Hunter, and Rosario Dawson, all of them in their debut performances...
– Fidget - GummoGummoGummo is a 1997 American independent drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. It was his directorial debut and has since become a cult film. The film stars Jacob Reynolds, Nick Sutton, Jacob Sewell, Chloë Sevigny, Linda Manz and Max Perlich...
– Boy on Couch - Good Will HuntingGood Will HuntingGood Will Hunting is a 1997 drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, and Stellan Skarsgård...
– Jerve - Last DaysLast Days (film)Last Days is a 2005 American film directed, produced, and written by Gus Van Sant, and is a fictionalized account of the last days of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. It was released to theaters in the United States on July 22, 2005, and was produced by HBO. The film stars Michael Pitt as the...
– Guy in Club - Trash HumpersTrash HumpersTrash Humpers is a 2009 American independent drama "film" directed by Harmony Korine. Shot on worn VHS home video, the film features a "loser-gang cult-freak collective" and their whereabouts in Nashville, Tennessee.-Cast:-Production:...
– Hervé
As himself:
- The Name of This Film Is Dogme95
- Beautiful LosersBeautiful Losers (film)Beautiful Losers is a 2008 documentary feature film by director Aaron Rose and co-directed by Joshua Leonard. It was produced by Sidetrack Films in association with BlackLake Productions, and stars several artists including Harmony Korine, writer of independent cult films Kids and Gummo.It...
- Fight HarmFight HarmFight Harm is an abandoned project by Harmony Korine filmed in 1999. The premise was to verbally provoke passers-by into a fight. The rules were Korine couldn't throw the first punch and the person confronted had to be bigger than Korine. To Korine, Fight Harm was high-comedy reminiscent of Buster...
(unfinished)