Just wanna do a real quick shoutout on Harmony Korine’s
follow up to Spring Breakers called The Beach Bum. Matthew McConaughey (Killer Joe) plays
Moondog, a guy who floats from bar to bar in Key West incessantly drinking PBR
tall boys and smoking weed. Sometimes he
goes fishing, sometimes he bangs away on an old typewriter piecing together
short poems. He’s on permanent
vacation. When his wife/girlfriend/lover
character Minnie (Isla Fisher (The Lookout)) asks that he come up to
Miami for their daughter’s wedding he’s reluctant but knows he has to make an
appearance. I don’t wanna say much else
on the plot because part of the beauty of this film is not knowing what lies
ahead on Moondog’s travels.
The thing about Moondog is he’s enviable on one hand but a
wreck on the other.You wish you could
lead his kinda life where you do whatever you want whenever you want seemingly
without consequence.You have a ton of
friends and everyone loves you.But
Moondog is also a serious asshole who hurts people.And he doesn’t care who he steps on if it
permits him to continue to live the lifestyle he created for himself.In a few instances he’s flat out mean to some
folks for no reason like when he pushes a guy playing a tuba off a pier into
the water.He cackles to himself at the
accomplishment.This is a character we
should either loath or admire.Somehow I
feel both.Korine pulls off the damn
near impossible by masterfully handling the complicated emotions we can have
towards others.
Of course McConaughey is spectacular as the titular
bum.He was born to play this role.The whole picture rests on his shoulders and
requires a range of emotions which he nails perfectly.When he’s blitzed (which is most of the time)
he can be affable as hell and when he’s down he can be completely
unreasonable.McConaughey gets the
balancing act right.
Another charming aspect is the good cast of supporting characters
that show up. Snoop Dog (Training Day)
plays an R&B artist who’s best friends with Moondog and Minnie.He basically plays himself but that’s what
you want from Snoop.His dialogue feels
adlibbed and results in some pretty funny scenes (that goes for all the side
characters really) especially when we discover he might also be a drug lord
which would explain the armed guards he’s always surrounded by.Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) is
Moondog’s publisher or agent or something and he sports a ridiculously thick
Louisiana accent.And Martin Lawrence (Boomerang)
is a seedy dolphin boat captain who’s probably the funniest I’ve seen him in
forever.Again, I won’t divulge too much
here because it’s better if you’re surprised with what happens when these folks
get involved.
This is a gorgeous looking movie too by the way.Lots of bright neon, setting suns, deep blues
of the ocean, awesome production design with the gaudy clothing, tricked out
boats, glamourous mansions, cars and etc.And it has a killer fuckin’ soundtrack to boot featuring The Cure, Edgar
Winter, Van Morrison, Jimmy Buffett and…Creed (in a funny scene where we’re not
sure if Moondog actually likes the song “Higher” or if he’s only humoring the
douche who put it on).All around a very
nicely made film.
Don’t fret if the movie seems plotless for a long stretch
because Korine sneakily unrolls one without you realizing it.As we tag along with Moondog and drift from
one situation to the next the pieces eventually come together and by the end I
didn’t want to say goodbye.It’s part
cautionary tale, fairy tale, comedy, drama, slice of (extraordinary) life,
dream-like, sobering and everything in between. It’s really impressive filmmaking.
Honestly this picture deserves a deeper dive than this short
piece but well, I’m just not doing that.I didn’t initially plan on writing anything but the more I thought about
this movie the more I liked it.I think
I love it now.So yea, go check it
out.It’s a good/sad/funny/poignant
time.
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