The aftermath of a devastating tornado in the dirt poor midwestern town of Xenia, Ohio is the setting for Gummo, Harmony Korine's cult film slice of life at its most degraded and desperate which plays loose with conventional narrative, opting instead for an almost scrapbook-like appraisal of society reduced to an almost feral state. Cat poaching, pimping out children with Down's Syndrome and wrestling furniture are just some of the incredibly weird goings on which feature throughout Gummo, a movie which is as darkly comic as it is graphic and disturbing. The use of local non-actors enhances the authenticity of the characters who inhabit this strange realm, and the poverty - and all its attendant concerns - is captured with a near-documentary feel for realism, all the more memorable for the frequent flashes of the surreal which permeate throughout.
