Kids (1995) Shining Excalibur Films/Drama RT: 91 minutes No MPAA Rating (pervasive language and graphic descriptions of sexual acts, some violence, a rape scene, strong explicit sexual content, non-stop drug and alcohol use, criminal behavior- all involving teens under 18) Director: Larry Clark Screenplay: Harmony Korine Music: Lou Barlow Cinematography: Eric Edwards Release date: July 28, 1995 (US) Cast: Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, Chloe Sevigny, Rosario Dawson, Harold Hunter, Jon Abrahams, Michele Lockwood, Carisa Glucksman, Yakira Peguero, Sarah Henderson, Sajan Bhagat, Avi Korine. Box Office: $7.4M (US)
Rating: ****
Hard to believe it’s been almost 30 years since Kids was released. I still remember all the fuss and controversy surrounding director Larry Clark’s harrowing drama about a group of New York teenagers who freely engage in sex, drugs and criminal behavior. Especially sex! It was the graphic depictions of minors engaged in sexual activity that caused the MPAA to slap it with a well-deserved NC-17 rating.
Kids was supposed to be released by Miramax, but parent company Disney’s policy forbidding NC-17 films forced Bob and Harvey Weinstein to buy back the film and create Shining Excalibur Films for the sole purpose of releasing the movie. It was subsequently released without a rating, instead bearing a “No One Under 18 Admitted” policy. I saw it opening night at a sold-out showing at the Ritz Five (Philadelphia’s premier arthouse cinema). A handwritten sign in the box office window informed patrons that IDs would be checked. Two hours later, I left the theater both shocked and impressed by what I just saw.
Kids is a powerful film in how it portrays teenage self-destructive behavior and shocking in what it actually shows viewers. It’s so graphic and realistic you’ll feel the need for a hot shower afterwards. The main character appears to be 16YO Telly (Fitzpatrick), a self-described “virgin surgeon” addicted to deflowering underage, inexperienced girls. The opening scene shows Telly talking a 12YO girl into having sex. We actually see them doing it. We can see and hear that the girl is in great pain. After he finishes, Telly leaves her house and immediately brags about his latest conquest to best bud Casper (the late Pierce). We soon learn Telly has AIDS but doesn’t know it. One of the girls he deflowered, Jennie (Sevigny), tests positive for HIV and Telly’s the only one she ever had sex with.
Kids takes place over the course of a day. Telly and Casper hang out with their group of friends- Harold (Hunter), Steven (Abrahams), Kim (Lockwood) and Joy (Glucksman)- while Jennie tries to find Telly to give him the news. She soon learns that he intends to claim another girl’s virginity, 13YO Darcy (Peguero), that very night. Jennie hopes to catch up with him before it’s too late.
Told in a raw, documentary-like style, Clark and screenwriter Harmony Korine- all of 19 when he wrote the script- keep it very real. They make no moral judgments on the characters or their actions. They don’t try and soften any blows either. We, the viewers, are given a boots-on-the-ground look at youth culture and what they’re up to when their parents aren’t looking. In fact, the kids in Kids don’t appear to have any parental supervision whatsoever. Where are that young girl’s parents while Telly is having sex with her in her bedroom? Only once do we meet a parent, Telly’s mom, but she’s hardly what I’d call maternal. Not only does she refuse to lend her son any money (he ends up stealing some from her closet), she also smokes a cigarette while breast-feeding her infant son. Maybe that’s why Telly comes off as mentally defective? Either way, these kids are always up to no good. Casper drinks 40s of malt liquor (which he usually boosts from bodegas) like they’re going out of style. If he’s not drinking, he’s doing drugs. He’s a little punk too. In one scene, he instigates a fight at the park with a passer-by and a whole gang of kids join in on the assault. It ends with Casper clobbering the guy in the head with his skateboard.
It’s difficult to say which scene in Kids is the most shocking, but I would place the one showing four kids that look to be around 10 or 11 sharing a joint at a wild party in the top five. The rape scene at the same party would also rank high. Kids isn’t a pleasant movie. Unlike Over the Edge two decades earlier, there’s no context for the kids’ abhorrent behavior other than boredom. They’re also much more open about sex. Early on, the movie cuts back and forth between the guys and the girls discussing sex in graphic detail. If you thought the carrot demonstration in Fast Times at Ridgemont High was shocking, wait until you hear what the girls have to say about oral sex in Kids. But at no time does the movie ever feel exploitative or gratuitous. This is the way teens talk and communicate. Casper uses a great deal of African-American slang in his everyday speech. These kids just LOVE the f-word too.
Kids is steeped in gritty realism right down to the cast of non-professional actors. Clark hired NYC street kids with no previous acting experience in order to give the film an authentic feel. The performances are raw, natural and unforced. They’re believable. The movie wouldn’t have worked as well with known actors playing the parts.
Kids is extremely difficult and uncomfortable to watch at times which I’m sure is the intention of the filmmaker. It serves as a wake-up call to parents who have no idea what their kids get up to when they’re out of view. By focusing on a subset of kids, it represents the declining morality among today’s youths. It also makes a bold statement about the ease with which AIDS speads. Kids, while not for everybody, is a viewing experience you’ll never forget. It stays with you for a very long time, no matter how many hot showers you take.
