I just saw Spring Breakers.

I was half expecting it to be an awful waste of money (though I used SCENE points), and half thought it would be interesting but not great. The verdict? I thought it was amazing. Here’s why:

1. My opinion was likely swayed by Lena Dunham tweeting that it was “the only art film to star a teen wizard” a few weeks ago. As such, I walked into the theatre expecting it to be more than just the sum of its parts.  It was. Spring Breakers is definitely not a film that everyone will like, and depending how you decide to watch the movie, it could be absolutely terrible.

2. It’s like a satirical Sofia Coppola. Though that’s a statement that could mean a wide range of things, I find it comparable to Coppola in the way it was shot, and the way the story was told. Not all that much happened. Well, things did, but it was a different kind of pace than many movies, and it was beautifully shot. Director Harmony Korine’s cinematography made the movie. The use of juxtaposition, foreshadowing, repetition and circling dialogue really propelled the message of the film.

3. Britney Spears. Okay, this is a much less serious point, but I thought the scenes where the girls sang along to Britney Spears were amazing. The reason for this is possibly that like many girls my age, I went through a Britney phase as a pre-teen. Not only did the characters sing along to Baby One More Time whilst copying the dance moves from the music video, but it proved to be important foreshadowing. How great is that? The next Britney moment is a sing-along to Everytime, quite possibly my favourite Britney “ballad”, and I was absolutely obsessed with the music video too. (Don’t remember it? You should go watch it. Now.) How many movies can you name that featured a Britney Spears song during a pivotal moment? It struck me as simultaneously smart, ridiculous, and hilarious. Clearly, Korine knew what he was doing.

3. It’s a smart social commentary disguised as a fun thriller featuring bikini-clad Disney stars. The entire film is a glorification of sex, drugs, guns, and money. Absolutely everything is exploitative, and the girls of the film are objectified from the get-go. But it’s all a critique of an instant gratification culture. It’s a movie that made me uncomfortable, but in a good way. I mean, it got to me enough for me to be writing this, right?

There’s a certain irony in writing a “review” of a movie that is best watched in a way where things aren’t taken seriously (to the point where I don’t think my feelings for the movie were articulated well enough?), but even still, I repeat: Spring Breakers was amazing.