A Crackup at the Race Riots

A Crackup at the Race Riots is the first feature film by artist-trio Leo Gabin and is based on the eponymous novel by Harmony Korine. Just like the book there is no place for plot, linear narrative, character development, or scene setting, but is rather a sequence of half-remembered scenes, jokes, rumors, and suicide notes. Capturing the fragmented moments of a life observed through the demented lens of social media, TV, and teen obsession, Leo Gabin’s film consists exclusively of appropriated and manipulated online footage interlaced with audio transcripts from Korine’s book. These recordings were made by the computer’s text-to-speech function to retain the work’s disembodied format. The film’s unnerving score is partially unique but mostly remixed. Through these tweaks, Leo Gabin retain and develop the book's hypnotic sense of anarchy, impending chaos and weird wonder.