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Kids (film)

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Kids
French release poster
Directed byLarry Clark
Screenplay byHarmony Korine
Story by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyEric Edwards
Edited byChristopher Tellefsen
Music byLou Barlow
Distributed by
Release dates
  • May 17, 1995 (1995-05-17) (Cannes)
  • July 28, 1995 (1995-07-28)
Running time
91 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.5 million[2]
Box office$20 million[3]

Kids is a 1995 American teen drama film written by Harmony Korine and directed by Larry Clark.[4] It features 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 unrestrained behavior towards sex and substance abuse (alcohol and other 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 17-year-old Telly (Leo Fitzpatrick) and a 12-year-old girl who are making out on a bed. With no adults around, Telly persuades the girl, who is a virgin, to have sex with him. Afterwards, he meets his friend, Casper (Justin Pierce), and tells him about his sexual experience in graphic terms. 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 infecting any other naïve girl, as Telly has taken to only having sex with virgins. 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 Rastafarian. They then meet up with a few friends, one of whom gives a blunt-rolling tutorial, to talk and smoke. As they do, Casper and many others taunt a homosexual 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 younger sister of an acquaintance, whom Telly wants to have sex with because she is a virgin. 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 consults 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 (Avi Korine), 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 when she discovers Telly having sex with Darcy, thus exposing her to HIV. Exhausted by her ordeal and with the drug still affecting her, Jennie cries and passes out on a couch among the other sleeping party-goers. 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 a naked Casper looking at the camera and saying "Jesus Christ, what happened?"

Cast

Production

Larry Clark was reported to have said that he wanted to "make the Great American Teenage Movie, like the Great American Novel."[5] 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.[6] 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 (or perhaps even pressured by) 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.[7]

Release

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews, with 49% of critics giving it a positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes.[8]

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.[9] While other critics have labeled it exploitative (in the lascivious sense) as borderline "child pornography".[10] 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.[11]

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."[12]

Box office

Miramax, which was owned by The Walt Disney Company, paid $3.5 million to buy the worldwide distribution rights.[7] Later, Harvey and Bob Weinstein (the co-chairmen of Miramax) were forced to buy back the film from Miramax and created Shining Excalibur Films (a one-off company) to release the film, due to Miramax's policy forbidding the release of NC-17 rated films. Eamonn Bowles was hired to be the chief operating officer of Shining Excalibur Films.[13]

The film, which cost $1.5 million to produce, grossed $7.4 million in the North American box office[14] and $20 million worldwide.[15] 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

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.[17] In May 2015, Clark celebrated the 20th anniversary of the film with a collection of skateboards and clothing with Supreme,[18] 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.[19]

Soundtrack

Untitled
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[20]
Entertainment WeeklyA[21]
NME[22]
Spin[23]

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

References

  1. ^ "KIDS (18) (!)". British Board of Film Classification. April 11, 1996. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
  2. ^ Kids box office information at Box Office Mojo
  3. ^ Leonard Klady (May 7, 1997). "Bookie bets on 'Paradise'". Variety. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  4. ^ "Harmony-Korine.com – Kids". Archived from the original on November 8, 2006. Retrieved January 12, 2007.
  5. ^ Bowen, Peter. Summer 1995. "The Little Rascals." Retrieved 2009-10-29.
  6. ^ Lyons, Tom. 1997-10-16. "Southern Culture on the Skids". The Eye. Retrieved 2009-11-6.
  7. ^ a b "Controversy: 'Kids' for Adults", Newsweek, February 20, 1995
  8. ^ "Kids at". Rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  9. ^ Kids at Rotten Tomatoes; last accessed May 22, 2007.
  10. ^ Rita Kempley (August 25, 1995). "'Kids' (NR)". Washington Post. Retrieved August 18, 2007. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ Ebert, Roger. 1995-6-5. Harmony Korine Interview Retrieved November 2, 2009
  12. ^ Jhally, Sut. "bell hooks: Cultural Criticism & Transformation" (PDF). Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  13. ^ Monica Roman (January 7, 1998). "Roman, Monica; "Bowles distrib'n prez for Shooting Gallery: Ex-Goldwyn arthouse exec brings sound instincts to Gallery"; January 8, 1998". Variety.com. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  14. ^ "Box Information for ''Kids'' at". The-numbers.com. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  15. ^ Klady, Leonard. "Bookie bets on 'Paradise'" Daily Variety May 7, 1997
  16. ^ Awards page for Kids at the Internet Movie Database
  17. ^ http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/jesus-christ-what-happened-larry-clarks-1995-kids-turns-20
  18. ^ "Supreme x Larry Clark's KIDS 20th Anniversary Capsule Collection". BallerStatus.com. May 18, 2015.
  19. ^ "Director Larry Clark Talks "KIDS" Movie 20 Years Later". BallerStatus.com. May 18, 2015.
  20. ^ a b Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Kids [Original Soundtrack] - Original Soundtrack | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  21. ^ Entertainment Weekly (8/18/95, p.55) - "...it is as dark, beautiful, and uncommercial as the film it accompanies....But the haunting, gritty results are surprisingly addictive for a score..." - Rating: A
  22. ^ NME (Magazine) (4/13/96, p.49) - 7 (out of 10) - "...a splendid record [that]...pull[s] off the effortlessly cool dance fusion of rattly hip-hop beats and copyright-Barlow sonic doodles....[it] works, both as a collection of songs `inspired by' the film, and as a Folk Implosion extravaganza."
  23. ^ Spin (10/95, p.120) - 8 - Very Good - "...the music to...KIDS is an inextricable component. It provides a crucial emotional center in a brutally cold picture....Lou Barlow seems an unlikely choice to score the bulk of this street flick, but he's modified his music to fit KIDS's urban vibe..."
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