NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Criterion 4K UHD / Blu-ray (October 2024): Criterion have transferred Harmony Korine's Gummo to 4K UHD and Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Harmony Korine". The Criterion 4K UHD package has one 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and this Blu-ray (which is also available separately) with the film and special features. While we are in possession of the 4K UHD disc we cannot resolve the encode yet and therefore cannot obtain screen captures. We hope to add to this review when possible. So, the below captures are from Criterion's 2024 1080P Blu-ray transfer.

The 1080P image quality shows prominent grain textures. It is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate. Colors are bright and balanced. It displays the film's rough-hewn charm adeptly in 1080P. The 4K UHD has an uptick in the contrast depth and fine texture. There is an improvement in most visual areas like color richness and tightness but only larger systems will proportionately notice the improvement.

NOTE: We have added 52 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Criterion use a DTS-HD Master stereo track (24-bit) in the original English language. Gummo has mild aggression exporting modest depth. There is a varied mix of music including Almeda Riddle's My Little Rooster, Buddy Holly's Everyday, My Bonnie by The Hoosier Hotshots, Madonna's Like a Prayer, some Bach, Roy Orbison's Crying, Bethlehem, Sleep, Destroy All Monsters and much more. It's quite an eclectic mix that suits the film. Dialogue can be a scattered at times showing the modest roots but everything is audible via the the lossless transfer. Criterion offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region FREE 4K UHD and Blu-ray.

Criterion include supplements, all on the Blu-ray only starting with a new dozen-minute interview with, the now 51-year-old, Harmony Korine talking about Gummo, his intentions when making his debut film and much more - as he smokes a cigar. From 1997 is a 55-minute conversation between 24-year-old Harmony Korine and iconic German filmmaker, actor, opera director, and author, Werner Herzog who was 19 when he started work on his first film Herakles. The conversation is appealing and revealing as Korine mentions seeing Werzog's Even Dwarfs Started Small at a very young age. Also is a half-hour Split Screen: Projections episode from 2000 featuring Korine in conversation with host John Pierson (Chasing Amy.) Lastly is a trailer. and the package has liner notes with an essay by film critic Carlos Aguilar (Bizarre Sinema: Wildest Sexiest Weirdest Sleaziest Films) and an appreciation by filmmaker Hype Williams (who collaborated on 20 music videos for Kanye West.)

Harmony Korine's Gummo is his directorial debut and was shot in Nashville, Tennessee, on an estimated budget of $1.3 million. He is known for unconventional narratives and themes of dysfunctional families exploring taboo themes including, in Gummo, violence against cats, bigotry and homophobia. Gummo is scattered with white trashy characters including a mute lad known as Bunny Boy (who wears only pink bunny ears ala Louise on Bob's Burgers), a cat poacher, a male dwarf, an albino waitress, skinhead brothers, and a further collection of eclectic personas plus a pair of well-dressed twin boys selling candy door-to-door. The cast was almost entirely local, non-actors. Include. though. 22-year old Chloë Sevigny (The Brown Bunny, The Last Days of Disco) who play 'Dot' and the actress stated that because of the film's cult status it was "stolen from every Blockbuster in America". Gummo was dedicated to Sevigny's father, who died prior to the film's release. Harmony Korine was 22-years old when he wrote Larry Clark's Kids that featured Sevigny and Rosario Dawson (Seven Pounds) in their first feature film roles. Gummo, named after the fifth Marx Brother, is described as a "collage-like assembly" filled with improvisation and a vaudevillian-style influence. I thought of John Waters. While not to all tastes it is hard to deny the film's odd, almost creepy, appeal. The Criterion 4K UHD and Blu-ray package is up to their usual standard of a/v and has over 1.5 hours of fascinating bonus material for this... eccentric, poverty-stricken, portrait of small-town American life. You won't be seeing anything like it. Absolutely recommended.

Gary Tooze