Kids (film)

Kids
French release poster
Directed by	Larry Clark
Screenplay by	Harmony Korine
Story by	Larry Clark Jim Lewis
Produced by	Cathy Konrad Christine Vachon Gus Van Sant Cary Woods
Starring	Leo Fitzpatrick Justin Pierce Chloë Sevigny
Cinematography	Eric Edwards
Edited by	Christopher Tellefsen
Music by	Lou Barlow
Production companies	Independent Pictures Killer Films Shining Excalibur Films
Distributed by	Shining Excalibur Films
Release dates	May 17, 1995 (1995-05-17) (Cannes) July 28, 1995 (1995-07-28)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Kids is a 1995 American independent coming-of-age film written by Harmony Korine and directed by Larry Clark. It stars Chloë Sevigny, Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, Rosario Dawson, and Jon Abrahams, all in their film debuts. Kids is centered on a day in the life of a group of sexually active teenagers in New York City and their hedonistic behavior towards sex and substance abuse (alcohol and other street drugs) during the height of the AIDS epidemic in the mid-1990s. The film generated a massive controversy upon its release in 1995, and caused much public debate over its artistic merit, even receiving an NC-17 rating from the MPAA. It was later released without a rating.

Plot

The film opens with Telly (Leo Fitzpatrick) and a 12-year-old girl making out on a bed. With no adults around, Telly, who is slightly older, persuades the girl, who is a virgin, to have sex with him. Afterwards, he meets his friend, Casper (Justin Pierce), and they talk about his sexual experience very crudely. Telly has taken to only having sex with virgins. They go inside a local store, where Casper shoplifts a bottle of malt liquor as Telly distracts the cashier. Looking for drugs, food and a place to hang out, they head to their friend Paul's (Sajan Bhagat) apartment, though they express dislike of him on the way there. They arrive at Paul's house, talk about sex and smoke marijuana while watching a skate video (Video Days). Casper inhales nitrous oxide out of balloons, which Telly considers dangerous. The scene intercuts with a group of girls, among them Ruby (Rosario Dawson) and Jennie (Chloë Sevigny), talking about sex—each gender contradicting what the other gender says, especially about oral sex.

Ruby and Jennie mention that they were recently tested for STDs at Ruby's request, though Jennie only got tested to keep Ruby company. Ruby's test is negative, though she has had multiple sexual encounters, many of them unprotected. Jennie tests positive for HIV. She says she has had sex only once, with Telly. Jennie spends the rest of the film trying to find Telly, to prevent him from unknowingly passing it on. Telly and Casper walk to Telly's house and steal money from Telly's mother, who is preoccupied with taking care of her new baby. They go to Washington Square Park and buy a dime bag of marijuana from a Rastafari. They then meet up with a few friends to talk and smoke, one of whom gives a blunt-rolling tutorial. As they do, Casper and many others taunt a gay couple passing through the park. On the side, Telly briefly talks to Misha, a girl who strongly dislikes Casper, calling him a jerk. As Casper rides on a skateboard, he carelessly bumps into a man, who furiously threatens him. He pushes Casper, but is struck in the back of the head with a skateboard by Harold (Harold Hunter), a friend of Telly and Casper's, causing him to collapse. A number of other skaters join in, beating, stomping, and hitting the man with their skateboards until he is rendered unconscious by a final blow to the head by Casper; Telly then spits on the man.

While discussing whether or not they killed the man at the park, Telly and some of the group from the park pick up a 13-year-old girl named Darcy (Yakira Peguero), the virginal younger sister of an acquaintance, whom Telly wants to have sex with next. He convinces her to go with them to a pool. The other girls engage in pseudo-lesbian kissing and flirtation, but Darcy is restrained, though not shocked by the others' behavior. Telly and the group go to an unsupervised party at the house of another friend, Steven (Jon Abrahams). Meanwhile, Jennie makes her way to Washington Square Park. Here, she talks to Misha, who tells her about Telly's possible whereabouts. Jennie goes to a rave club called NASA trying to find Telly. She runs into a raver boy, Fidget (Harmony Korine credit as Avi, his brother), who shoves a pill in her mouth, which he refers to as "a euphoric blockbuster drug that's supposed to make Special K look weak". It turns out to be a depressant (similar to Valium or Xanax). The pill kicks in and Jennie eventually finds out that Telly is at the party at Steven's house.

Jennie arrives at the party only to learn she is too late, as she discovers Telly having sex with Darcy, thus exposing Darcy to HIV. Emotionally drained and the drug still affecting her, Jennie cries and passes out on a couch among the other sleeping partygoers. A drunken Casper proceeds to rape Jennie unprotected as she sleeps, unknowingly exposing himself to HIV as well. The film ends with a poignant look at several early-morning junkies on the streets of New York City, as well as a soliloquy by Telly about how without sex he would have nothing to live for. The final shot features Casper drinking liquor first thing in the morning and looking at the camera and saying "Jesus Christ, what happened?"

Cast

• Leo Fitzpatrick as Telly
• Justin Pierce as Casper
• Chloë Sevigny as Jennie
• Rosario Dawson as Ruby
• Harold Hunter as Harold
• Jon Abrahams as Steven
• Jamal Simmons as Kid in Park
• Harmony Korine as Club Kid
• Johnathan S. Kim as Korean Guy

Production

Larry Clark was reported to have said that he wanted to "make the Great American Teenage Movie, like the Great American Novel." The film is shot in a quasi-documentary style, although all of its scenes are scripted.

In Kids, Clark cast New York City "street" kids with no previous acting experience in the film, notably Leo Fitzpatrick (Telly) and Justin Pierce (Casper). Clark originally decided he wanted to cast Fitzpatrick in a film after watching him skateboard in New York, and cursing himself when he could not land certain tricks. Korine had met Chloë Sevigny in New York before production began on Kids, and cast her in a small role as one of the girls in the swimming pool. She was later given the leading role of Jennie when the actress hired to play her (Mia Kirshner) was fired. Sevigny and Korine later went on to make Gummo (1997) together. Korine himself makes a cameo in the club scene with Jennie, as the kid wearing Coke-bottle glasses and a Nuclear Assault shirt who gives her drugs, though the part is credited to his brother Avi.

Korine reportedly wrote the film's screenplay in 1993, at the age of 19, and principal photography took place during the summer of 1994. Contrary to perceptions on the part of many viewers, the film, according to Korine, was almost entirely scripted, with the only exception being the scene with Casper on the couch at the end, which was improvised. Gus Van Sant had originally been attached to the film as a producer. After insufficient interest had been generated in the film, he left the project; under incoming producer Cary Woods, the project found sufficient independent funding for the film. Harvey Weinstein of Miramax, wary of the parent Walt Disney Company's opinion of the risky screenplay, declined to involve Disney in funding the production of the film. After Woods showed him the final cut, however, Miramax paid $3.5 million to buy the worldwide distribution rights of this film.

Release

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews, with 48% of critics giving it a positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes. It was championed by some prominent critics, including Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun Times, who gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4. In his review, he stated "Kids is the kind of movie that needs to be talked about afterward. It doesn't tell us what it means. Sure, it has a "message," involving safe sex. But safe sex is not going to civilize these kids, make them into curious, capable citizens. What you realize, thinking about Telly, is that life has given him nothing that interests him, except for sex, drugs and skateboards. His life is a kind of hell, briefly interrupted by orgasms." Other critics derided the film, with the most common criticism relating to the perceived lack of artistic merit.

Film critic Janet Maslin of The New York Times called the film a "wake-up call to the modern world" about the nature of present-day youth in urban life. While other critics have labeled it exploitative (in the lascivious sense) as borderline "child pornography". Korine attributes the negative reaction to Kids to the expectation on the part of audiences that the film would explicitly make moral judgments on the actions of the characters when Korine gave the film no such moral compass.

Feminist scholar bell hooks spoke extensively about the film in Cultural Criticism and Transformation. "Kids fascinated me as a film precisely because when you heard about it, it seemed like the perfect embodiment of the kind of postmodern, notions of journeying and dislocation and fragmentation and yet when you go to see it, it has simply such a conservative take on gender, on race, on the politics of HIV."

Box office

Miramax, which was owned by The Walt Disney Company, paid $3.5 million to buy the worldwide distribution rights. Later, Harvey and Bob Weinstein (the co-chairmen of Miramax) were forced to buy back the film from Disney and created Shining Excalibur Films (a one-off company) to release the film, due to Disney's policy forbidding the release of NC-17 rated films. Eamonn Bowles was hired to be the chief operating officer of Shining Excalibur Films.

The film, which cost $1.5 million to produce, grossed $7.4 million in the North American box office and $20 million worldwide. According to Peter Biskind's book Down and Dirty Pictures, Eamonn Bowles had stated that Harvey and Bob Weinstein might have personally profited up to $2 million each.

Accolades

• 1995 Independent Spirit Awards
  • Best Debut Performance – Justin Pierce
  • Best First Feature (nominated; director Larry Clark and producer Cary Woods)
  • Best First Screenplay (nominated; Harmony Korine)
  • Best Supporting Female (nominated; Chloë Sevigny)

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

• 2003: AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains:
  • Telly – Nominated Villain

Legacy

In August 2010, rapper Mac Miller released the mixtape K.I.D.S whose cover art, title and some musical themes pay homage to the film. Some audio clips from the film are also part of the mixtape in between songs. In May 2015, Clark celebrated the 20th anniversary of the film with a collection of skateboards and clothing with Supreme, and also conducted an interview with the brand, in which he offered behind the scenes stories, including specifics scenes, how he found the cast, and the film's impact, among other topics.

Soundtrack

Untitled

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Entertainment Weekly	A
NME	7/10
Spin	8/10

Creation of the film's soundtrack was overseen by Lou Barlow.

1. Daniel Johnston – "Casper"
2. Deluxx Folk Implosion – "Daddy Never Understood"
3. Folk Implosion – "Nothing Gonna Stop"
4. Folk Implosion – "Jenny's Theme"
5. Folk Implosion – "Simean Groove"
6. Daniel Johnston – "Casper the Friendly Ghost"
7. Folk Implosion – "Natural One"
8. Sebadoh – "Spoiled"
9. Folk Implosion – "Crash"
10. Folk Implosion – "Wet Stuff"
11. Lo-Down – "Mad Fright Night"
12. Folk Implosion – "Raise the Bells"
13. Slint – "Good Morning, Captain"

Other songs not included on the soundtrack

• Artifacts – "Wrong Side of the Tracks"
• Average White Band – "I'm the One"
• Beastie Boys – "Sabrosa"
• Beastie Boys – "Pow"
• Brand Nubian – "Word Is Bond"
• Crooklyn Dodgers – "Crooklyn"
• Erule – "Listen Up"
• Jeru the Damaja – "Da Bichez"
• John Coltrane – "Traneing In"
• O.C. – "Time's Up"
• A Tribe Called Quest – "Oh My God"
• Nine – "Whutcha Want?"
• Beastie Boys - "In 3's"
• Sonny Rollins - "Dancing in the Dark"

External links

• Kids at IMDb
• Kids at Box Office Mojo
• Kids at Rotten Tomatoes
• Harmony-Korine.com: Kids