The loose narrative follows several main characters who find odd and destructive ways to pass time, interrupted by vignettes depicting other inhabitants of the town.

The film received generally negative reviews from critics, and generated substantial press for its graphic content and stylized, loosely woven narrative.

[6] A young boy named Solomon narrates the events of the tornado that devastated the city of Xenia, Ohio.

The film then cuts to a scene in which two foul-mouthed young boys dressed as cowboys destroy things in a junkyard.

When Tummler and Solomon break into Jarrod's house with masks and weapons with intent to hurt him, they find photos of the young teen cross-dressing and his elderly grandmother, who is catatonic and attached to life support machinery.

Tummler then discovers the grandmother lying in her bed, states that it is "no way to live", and turns off the life support machine.

A number of other scenes are interspersed throughout the film, including: an intoxicated man (played by Korine) flirting with a male dwarf; a man pimping his disabled sister to Solomon and Tummler; the sisters encountering an elderly child molester; a pair of twin boys selling candy door-to-door; a brief conversation with a tennis player who is treating his ADD; a long scene of Solomon eating dinner while taking a bath in dirty water; a drunken party with arm- and chair-wrestling; and two skinhead brothers boxing each other in their kitchen.

There are also a number of even smaller scenes depicting Satanic rituals, footage seemingly from home movies, and conversations containing racial bigotry.

The final scene shows a girl, who shaved her eyebrows earlier in the movie, singing "Jesus Loves Me" in bed next to her mom (or sister).

In writing Gummo, Harmony Korine abandoned traditional three-act plot structure and worked to avoid creating characters of a clear-cut moral dimension.

In favor of a collage-like assembly, Korine focused on forming interesting moments and scenes, that when put in succession would become its own unique narrative.

[7] During the months of pre-production, Korine scouted for locations in his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, finding unusual and distinctive homes to shoot in.

Korine often approached people on the street, in bowling alleys and in fast food restaurants and asked them to play a part in his movie.

"[7] Korine's then-girlfriend Chloë Sevigny, who also starred in the film, served as costume designer, mixing pieces that people already owned with items bought at local thrift stores.

"[11] Nick Sutton, who plays Tummler, was spotted on a drug prevention episode of The Sally Jesse Raphael Show called "My Child Died From Sniffing Paint".

I think of Nick as being Harmony's equivalent of Herzog's Bruno S."[7] Korine cast his actors not by how they read lines, but by the visual aura they put off.

Producer Cary Woods comments, "we're essentially seeing the kind of poverty that we're used to seeing in Third World countries when news crews are covering famines, [but] seeing that in the heart of America."

"[14] At times, the crew rebelled against filming in such conditions and Korine was forced to purchase hazmat suits for them to wear.

Korine and Escoffier, who thought this was offensive and disrespectful to the residents of the houses, "wore Speedos and flip-flops just to piss them off.

Korine comments, "When I saw that in the dailies, it amazed me, because Jean Yves really captured that awkwardness, that sad silence; it was beautiful.

[14] Gummo's soundtrack paints a wide canvas of American pop-culture, ranging from Almeda Riddle's field recording of the traditional children's song "My Little Rooster", to the doom metal of the California band Sleep.

Other popular songs include Buddy Holly's "Everyday" and Roy Orbison's "Crying", which closes the film and is directly referenced in the dialogue.

Metal and powerviolence bands such as Bethlehem, Mystifier, Absu, Burzum, Bathory, Brujeria, Eyehategod and Spazz are also featured.

I want you to see these kids wearing Bone Thugs & Harmony t-shirts and Metallica hats – this almost schizophrenic identification with popular imagery.

"[10] (See Borscht Belt) Producer Robin O'Hara argues that while people naturally look for points of reference to describe Gummo (such as Herzog, Cassavetes, Arbus, Fellini, Godard, Maysles and Jarman) that Korine's art really is his own.

[18][19] It was picked up for distribution by Fine Line Features, and saw a limited release with an R rating (edited from the original NC-17 version) in the United States on October 17, 1997[20] for pervasive depiction of anti-social behavior of juveniles, including violence, substance abuse, sexuality and language.

The site's critical consensus states "Gummo's bold provocations may impress more iconoclastically inclined viewers, but others will find it hard to see past writer-director Harmony Korine's overwhelmingly sour storytelling perspective.

[24] David Stratton of SBS's The Movie Show stated in his review that "cat lovers should be warned", but ultimately praised the film, calling it "original".

[25] Filmmaker Gus Van Sant on Gummo writes, "Venomous in story; genius in character; victorious in structure; teasingly gentle in epilogue; slapstick in theme; rebellious in nature; honest at heart; inspirational in its creation and with contempt at the tip of its tongue, [Gummo] is a portrait of small-town Middle American life that is both bracingly realistic and hauntingly dreamlike.

Some of this material I'm going to use in this art work... the problem you run into doing multimedia projection is that a lot of the time, the style takes over.