Review LV - Kids

Review LV
Kids (1995)

I've seen one Larry Clark film - Ken Park. I'm also familiar with Harmony Korine besides his contribution to Ken Park as I have seen parts of his film Gummo. While you think you're prepared for one of their films, you never are. There is definitely no exception when it comes to their film Kids. I've wanted to watch this film for years because I heard it was so controversial, and while someone told me it was bad, I decided to delve into it anyway.

"Of course I care about you," is the statement that wins sixteen-year-old Telly (Leo Fitzpatrick) a thirteen-year-old's virginity one morning. You see, Telly has one goal in life, and that is to take as many girls' virginities as possible. Casper (Justin Pierce), one of Telly's friends, is encouraging of this behaviour, and Telly settles on screwing two virgins in one day, and his next victim is thirteen-year-old Darcy (Yakira Peguero). While the two meet up with their skater friends throughout the day, Jennie (Chloë Sevigny) and Ruby (Rosario Dawson) return to a clinic to see if they tested for any STDs. Ruby is quite the promiscuous teen, while Jennie only ever had sex with Telly. While it turns out Ruby is clean, Jennie tests positive for the HIV virus. Now Jennie must try and find Telly before he de-flowers another virgin.

If there was one thing I tried to escape in my high school years, it would be exactly what was portrayed in this film. That is, adolescents who encouraged drug abuse, whether it be alcohol or marijuana or stronger substances, and who attended house parties where sex was encouraged. While I know people who participated in such "festivities" (and still do) and I heard my fair share of stories, I never experienced it hands on. I guess maybe that's why I found Kids a bit unbelievable. I mean, some parts were head on, but others, like the scene involving Casper and Jennie at the end, just seems so ridiculous. I guess I'm just naive in that aspect. First off, the film captures the drug culture that teenage seems to be all about. I'm personally completely against usage, but I know that quite a few teenagers are accepting to it when it concerns drugs that aren't too extreme. Second, the film goes into the sexual side of teenagehood. This I can relate to more because all adolescents go through puberty at some point. Still, I was readily exposed to the lessons about "safe sex" practice, so hearing Ruby claim she had unprotected sex with six guys (I can't remember the number exactly, but it was high enough) was pretty shocking. Nonetheless, I know where I live, apparently we have one of the highest teenage pregnancies in the country, as well as the highest number of cases of gonnorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia. Obviously safe sex isn't practiced as much as I hoped... Even though this film came out nearly twenty years ago, the subject matter it brings up is still true to today's kids. And that's a pretty scary thought. While I think the film was a bit extreme in representing youths, dumb it down a bit and you have painted a picture of today's society.

Even though the film arguably represented today's teenagers, it still wasn't very good. I mean, there's only so much I can take of guys objectifying women and other men. Sex is not the only thing kids talk about, so it became redundant really quickly. The acting was also not anything spectacular, but I was willing to expect that since most of the actors and actresses were picked off the street to do this film. But Chloë Sevigny, who I've seen actually do a great job in a role, was so... nothing. Her character doesn't have emotion, whether it be sadness or happiness. I mean, sure, she "cries", but you don't feel it. I was sitting there thinking that even I could do a better job, and that's a sad statement indeed. Rosario Dawson was good, which I expected, but Chloë Sevigny was such a disappointment. I can't see why the director would want her to act the way she did - it's just unnatural.

I'd give the film six point five stars on ten. It's a typical low-budget film that screams Larry Clark and Harmony Korine, so if you're fans of them, you'll love it. Still, it has pretty bad acting and focuses too much on too little. The characters aren't three dimensional enough, and since this film relies on them, without that, we only get a less than mediocre film.

Pirate Bay torrent (uncut version apparently)