You know how when you’re wanting to go to the movie theater and you look up all the films that are showing and there are alway at least three that you’ve never heard of, let alone have any interest in seeing? Well, good news! I’ve seen those movies. I spend most of my theater experiences in art house theaters watching those movies that you’ve never heard of and then never watch. Yeah, I’m that hipster asshole. My goal with this is to spread information out about these films, that way you can decide one of the following. “That actually sounds pretty cool! I want to see that now!” or “Man, I’m glad I decided to go see the new superhero movie!”. So without further ado, here is my article and review of Trash Humpers.

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Look. I get it. I mean I don’t get it. But I get it. Some people really like Harmony Korine. There are quite a few people in my film class that genuinely love his filmography. To the point where we started watching Julien Donkey-Boy in my film history class. So I understand that some people see something in Korine’s filmography. So when I talk about this film, understand that I’m not saying my opinion is correct. Your opinion isn’t correct either. But don’t be insulted by this.

This film certainly isn’t for everyone. Trash Humpers follows these four people who go around and shout and attempt to have sex with trash and other inanimate objects. This film also follows the Dogme 95 “Vows of Chastity”. I have my own opinions on Dogme 95, that aren’t particularly positive, but it needs to be said before someone watches this film. And I will fully admit that I have not seen all of the “licensed” Dogme 95 films. I’m sure there are a few that I would enjoy. But between this and Julien Donkey-Boy, I can’t help but strongly dislike a majority Korine’s filmography.

I did some investigation into what I was supposed to take away from this film. It took me a while to find one solid answer, but I did find it. The film is about parenthood, according to the source that I found. It has a similarly understated plot line similar to Lynch’s Eraserhead. I will say that I kind of see that. Or at least I can go along with it. The problem is that, like Lynch, Korine refuses to say what the film actually is. Unlike Lynch, Korine refuses to confirm if anything is true. The one article I read said the fatherhood angle, which in all honesty seems like is the actual smart interpretation of the film. But when the journalist asked Korine about it, he said that he wouldn’t ever say. Which whenever I hear that I assume the director actually doesn’t know what his or her film means. Maybe that isn’t the case here, maybe it is. Either way, it’s bullshit.

Dogme 95’s philosophy that if they take realism to the extreme, they will achieve some kind of connection with the audience for a higher form of story and character. If they sacrifice the general necessary ingredients for a film, they will achieve this connection with the audience. Unfortunately for Trash Humpers, they sacrifice all of this for a film with a minimalistic story and undeveloped characters. Where Dogme 95 can be great if you have a fantastic story or wonderful characters. Something that, where I am not a fan of it, Julien Donkey-Boy has something close to this. But in this film, the stripping of the fantastical elements of a film just exposes how weak and lazy the storytelling and character development is. You have four characters that are almost identical and only one of them actually changes in the film, and you could argue that she doesn’t change at all.

The film is very reminiscent of Jackass, which I accidentally watched as well this week. Throughout the film, you see the four trash humpers do these stupid things, and the camera work around these activities is very Jackass-like. The difference here is that the four trash humpers have zero likability nor do they have anything interesting to keep viewers entertained. The Jackasses at least are likable to the point where you can have fun, almost like you are friends with them. And maybe that’s the point of this film in a weird roundabout way. But it doesn’t matter as Korine would never confirm this.

This film is the worst I’ve seen from Korine. I’m not a big fan of his work, but I don’t hate his work. Clearly, he has an audience that enjoys his work, even if they follow him blindly. And I do very much enjoy Spring Breakers. But there is so little to this work that it doesn’t warrant you sitting through it, even at its brisk 77 minutes. I’m going to continue to watch Korine’s work, and every time I will attempt to figure out what I’m missing. But at this point, I’m getting close to wondering if there is anything there worth looking for.