:
Leo Fitzpatrick,
Leo Fitzpatrick,
Justin Pierce,
more...
:
Larry Clark,
Larry Clark
see all cast/crew...
: Not Rated
: Lions Gate
: Drama, Independent, Coming of Age
: 91 min.
: English, Spanish, French
see additional details...
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Kids offers a bleak, unblinking view of a group of vacuous, thoughtless New York City teens in their ceaseless quest for sex, drugs, and trouble. The film primarily follows Telly (Leo Fitzpatrick), who, having just realized the conquest of his latest virgin, brags that by day's end he will claim one more. While he and his friends brag to each other about their sexual exploits, Jenny (Chloë Sevigny) describes her own less-than-romantic encounter with Telly. Soon after the conversation, she learns that Telly, the only boy with whom she has slept, has infected her with the AIDS virus. Devastated, she sets out to find him and share the news. Meanwhile, Telly has set his sights on Darcy (Yakira Peguero), a lovely young girl whom he invites for a skinny dip at the local pool. Together with his friends, Telly drags Darcy along, and the entire crew jump the fence after hours. There he presents his now-familiar spiel which Darcy naïvely accepts, and the scene is set for disaster as the group heads back to a vacant apartment for an evening of sex, booze, drugs, and debauchery. Jenny finally locates Telly at the impromptu party and rushes to confront him, although she may be too late to save the next virgin in line from sharing her fate. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
You might also enjoy:
Pixote
Harrowing, unforgettable portrait of street kids in Brazil; a sad and haunting journey that will stay with you much longer than Clark's film
Bully
Clark returned to controversial terrain with this harsh, explicit drama
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| Needless banter for 90 minutes
by MMcIntyre
February 28, 2006 - 5:44 PM PST
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0 out of 5 members found this review helpful
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| A truley uneeded film in any day an age-I remember reading a write up at the time of release seeing the phrase-"The nineties answer to Blackboard Jungle" and "A thinking mans' rebel without a cause"-How dow they-Total piece a vulgar crapola |
| A no-holds unbarred look at contemporary youth
by jarbomb
July 17, 2004 - 1:18 AM PDT
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6 out of 11 members found this review helpful
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I'll keep the review short on this one...
I disagree with the previous reviewer. Many of you may have found this film to be explicit, but the fact of the matter is that Larry Clark's film is a fairly accurate portrayal of urban youth in contemporary society, at least from one point of view. As shocking as it may seem, some kids really DO only exist for drugs, sex, and booze. Many are naive and insecure, just like the characters in here. They live Epicurean lifestyles, with no goals in mind or future in sight. The themes of belongingness, of group mentality, of feeling accepted, of rebellion are all present. This film may have lacked a plot but that's not really what this is about.
I admire Larry's courage to create films that push the limits of controversy and what's considered "appropriate." Quite simply, being a kid nowadays is not PG-13. Now... keep in mind that not all teens are hooligans, but don't tell me that these sort of scenarios don't happen: unprotected sex, rape, drug abuse, binge drinking, etc.
I found this film to be intelligent, engrossing, and unflinchingly real. Great dialogue and genuine "acting" (if you can call it that) by the main characters. Also, I enjoyed searching for those hidden messages Kids made concerning gender roles.
As an added perk, the music selection is fantastic! Unique mix of primarily Indie Rock and urban Hip Hop.
If you enjoyed Kids I highly recommend Bully, also directed by Larry Clark. |
| "KIDS IS CRAP"
by stypee
May 6, 2004 - 10:29 PM PDT
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8 out of 19 members found this review helpful
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Larry Clark is a hard director to digest as is screenwriter Harminoy Korione. While his recent effort "Ken Park" has no shame and takes no prisoners, it had some sort of base that showed the collapse of our present generation (pointing out once again, not all kids are bad, just noting "Ken Park" is one sick flick) I find "KIDS" an extremely nasty and cruel 90 minutes of unnecessary mayhem.This film almost grants "Ken Park's" frank and explicit sex scenes a waiver.
"KIDS" requires no thinking, it's sex, drugs and hip-hop. It's central subject matter would likely be "where the hell are these kid's parents?"
What the film does is take an endless stream of characters, tosses them in a blender and leaves very little arch to any of their back-stories.
"KIDS" is purely exploitation and there is nothing funny or entertaining about it (neither is "Ken Park" but that had substance). Endless scenes of explicit sexual talk and behavior, parties, booze, pissing and 9 year olds smoking weed while conversing about it like seasoned professionals.
It attempts to have a point when one of the kids gets infected with HIV and hops from virgin to virgin spreading the disease. He has no idea he's got it but his ex does and she has to find him.
There is no real conclusion to this film, there's no purpose for it. What it gains in shock value it loses in substance. None of these "KIDS" are at all likable and quite frankly, I didn't want to like any one of them.
Ironically Gus Van Sant (writer,editor,director of the outstanding ELEPHANT) executive produced this disposable piece of garbage. Perhaps he thought it was a good idea before that "Psycho" re-make?
We all know that there are kids out there like this (unfortunately there maybe more like these than others), we'd be in a bubble to deny it. But to create a film that literally urinates on an already blurred and disoriented youth just fuels the fire. Just knowing that KIDS are watching and discovering this film bugs me. This is one piece of celluloid that manipulates very easily and it shouldn't even be a model to the youth of any generation.
"KIDS" will leave you disgusted, bitter and spit all over you.
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.21)
716 Votes
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