Trash Humpers is ostensibly 78 minutes of foliage and refuse fornication, vandalism and nursery rhymes. We follow a group of four deranged individuals as they inflict their brand of art upon a sparsely populated area of Kentucky. Trash Humper art comes in a variety of forms, humping trash being the obvious, though the Humpers also enjoy destroying old electronics equipment, singing, listening to enigmatic poetry, drinking and setting of fireworks. In a conversation with cinemalogue Harmony Korine describes his creations' mischief as: "want to turn vandalism and destruction and chaos into something that's transcendent and beautiful" . There is some deviance at work as little of the imagery is cheerful, much of it may be seen as disturbing, but the exuberance of the characters as they cackle and stumble through the frame has an inherent joy that is hard to resist.
In a recent interview with /Film Harmony
manages to work all three into the same response: Harmony
Korine: I guess the best way to answer that is to say maybe this isn't even a movie. I
didn't even want this to be viewed--or I didn't even conceive this--in
traditional cinematic terms. This is more like an artifact. I don't
know--this is going for something else. It's not really meant to be
watched like a film. I would be fine if it was projected into a toilet
bowl. It makes no difference to me. This is something that is more,
like, unearthed, a found
object, something that's drenched in blood. Or tossed in your granny's panty drawer.
Something that you'd imagine a convict burying in the ass of a mule.
Korine's
tongue in cheek rhetoric is aimed at presentation, the forsaken element
missing when the film is projected to a paying house. Plans of sending
stripped down versions of the project to police precincts and government
offices discarded for a more traditional release. Without context the
film suffers, a terse title card alluding to the artifact the VHS was
conceived as would go a long way.The high concept plays a
great deal into how effective the work is, providing definition to what
could otherwise be construed as aimless smut.
Harmony wants us to remember
the feeling of finding an unlabeled VHS tape, be it on the street or in a
dumpster. That undefined VHS tape that incites pangs of anticipation
and wonder, the question of what is on the tape and why was it
discarded. The what if... is the catalyst, what if you picked up a tape
off the street one day, popped it in your VCR and it contained rough
footage of disfigured individuals humping trash. What does the image say
about the person who discarded it and what does it say about you for
watching it.
The concept is the aesthetic, shot on VHS and edited
using two VCRs the visual fidelity recalls a reused VHS tape, mangled
and damaged with static tears marring record markers and hardware
watermarks. There is a fond recall associated with the aesthetic, a
nostalgia that we don't get to experience very often and one that will
continue to fade with technological progress. The degraded analog
visuals provide a corrupting solace for the characters, an eroded
southern landscape for their mischief.
Trash Humpers is not for everyone, its pure
expression can be repetitious and seemingly baseless, the nature of the
Humpers and their antics provide only as much entertainment as you
allow.
It should be noted that Harmony Korine and his wife
Rachel take part in the genial acts of vandalism, portraying two of the
Trash Humpers; the rest of the cast populated by friends and local
artists. The film is a celebration of the way Harmony sees his street
light illuminated alleys, the characters and concept taken from
childhood memories, the playful destruction an act of phatic artistry.