Kids
(1995)
Director: Larry Clark
Starring: Leo
Fitzpatrick, Sarah Henderson, Chloe Sevigny
The Kids aren’t OK - they’re on the fast road to
ruin. The kids in question are the teens of New York, whose lives revolve
around skating and having sex. The film focuses upon Telly (Leo Fitzpatrick),
whose existence is only given meaning by the de-flowering of virgins, but whose
world is about to fall apart, as one of his past conquests has just found out
she is HIV positive. Kids takes us inside the world of the underground
and smashes our preconceptions of the innocent teens.
The controversy surrounding this
film focuses upon whether it is exploiting its characters i.e. the children of
New York, or allowing us to see from their perspective. Larry Clark directs,
his first feature, and also provides the story, so it is his view of the
situation that we see here; he himself is a skater, and comes from the world
that he wishes to portray. But whilst the original story is his, a lot of the
film was taken from the input of the actors themselves, produced by Harmoney
Korine. The film was banned on video until the August of last year and was
originally cut for the cinema release in this country, perhaps demonstrating
that Clark’s vision was not entirely in accordance with what BBFC thought
appropriate. The scene missing from the original and indeed the version shown
tonight was that of a rape, in which a small child was in the background; this
was removed in compliance with British law concerning children with sexual material.
None of the cast had prior acting
work, although many were professional skaters on the New York Zoo team, and
since the film have not found too much more. Screenplay writer Korine has
continued to work, although his feet remain firmly in the world of indie cinema
– see Gummo. Chloe Sevigny went on to greater things in Last Days of
Disco and teamed up with Korine again in Gummo.
“Is it purely exploitive, or true to life?
You be the judge.”
Leonard Maltin
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