starring Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce and Chloe Sevigny
In a nutshell: Very powerful at times, very annoying at others
Quick synopsis: Some inner city teens without any supervision are engaging in risky behavior with some bad consequences.
Content: Kids is a movie that a lot of people I grew up with saw when we were in middle school or high school, but somehow I never saw more than bits and pieces. Because of its controversial reputation, I decided to see what all the fuss was about.
Yikes...where to start? How about the end? The end was easily the most interesting (and disturbing) part of the movie. Casper's reaction after waking up on the couch (at the very end) was the film's best moment and had a very very dark humor to it (considering what we know and he doesn't). Up until the last 15 minutes or so, I did not feel glad to have watched Kids at all, but the ending made it somewhat worthwhile, despite its darkness.
In a nutshell: Very powerful at times, very annoying at others
Quick synopsis: Some inner city teens without any supervision are engaging in risky behavior with some bad consequences.
Content: Kids is a movie that a lot of people I grew up with saw when we were in middle school or high school, but somehow I never saw more than bits and pieces. Because of its controversial reputation, I decided to see what all the fuss was about.
Yikes...where to start? How about the end? The end was easily the most interesting (and disturbing) part of the movie. Casper's reaction after waking up on the couch (at the very end) was the film's best moment and had a very very dark humor to it (considering what we know and he doesn't). Up until the last 15 minutes or so, I did not feel glad to have watched Kids at all, but the ending made it somewhat worthwhile, despite its darkness.
The rest of the movie was a mixed bag. I did not like Telly (or the actor playing him) at all, except when he and Casper go into his house and suddenly we can actually see him let his guard down. Casper, on the other hand was great. As much as I wanted to Telly to get the beatdown that he deserved, I also wanted Casper to get his s**t together and make it through the movie ok and to stop hanging out with losers like Telly. Casper is a funny and likeable guy. Fun to root for which makes his single catastrophic alcohol-fueled decision particularly potent.
As the opening credits started rolling, I wondered if I'd recognize any names of teens who have since become successful actors. Sure enough, the next name that appeared on the screen was Chloe Sevigny who I have been seeing a lot of recently in Big Love. She is pretty good in Kids and very good on Big Love. Kids was the debut of Rosario Dawson as well.
As the opening credits started rolling, I wondered if I'd recognize any names of teens who have since become successful actors. Sure enough, the next name that appeared on the screen was Chloe Sevigny who I have been seeing a lot of recently in Big Love. She is pretty good in Kids and very good on Big Love. Kids was the debut of Rosario Dawson as well.
Sevigny's character is the only other one (besides Casper) in the movie that I cared about, although her fate is a little preachy and predictable if you took health class in high school. Dawson and the other girls were all so annoying that I couldn't sympathize with any of them and wanted them to go away whenever they were on screen.
I noticed quite a few similarities with the movie Alpha Dog. Both are stories about teens who get in over their heads by trying to act badass. The major difference is that Alpha Dog was centered around some very extraordinary events and Kids was a "slice of life" movie, taking place over the course of a few days when not too much happens. But both suffer from the same problem: very inauthentic-feeling "hangout" scenes. When both the males and the females are hanging out with their groups, the joking, ballbreaking, storytelling and bragging is pretty brutal to tolerate. It took me out of what was otherwise a realistic-feeling and moving tragic story. And I understand that director Larry Clark was trying to drive home his point by shocking us with behavior that does indeed go on among teens as young as these, but some of the stuff he showed us was indulgent and downright gratuitous.
The unfortunate thought I was left with when it was over was "What was the point?" The best answer I can come up with is that it is a reminder that events like these really happen more than most of us would like to admit. Most of the characters even reminded me of a person or two with whom I grew up. But Kids steadfastly insists on making the viewer feel uncomfortable by presenting situation after situation in which characters do exactly what you hope they won't. It is pretty much just a series of bad things happening with no redemption or lessons learned. I recognize that a movie can be unpleasant to watch and still be very, very good (like Requiem for a Dream), but Kids has too many flaws to fall into that bucket. I maintain that the disturbing way that the end of the movie unfolded was well put together and could have been the end to a good movie, but the first three quarters didn't do a good enough job setting it up for the ending to hit hard as hard as it could have.
Rolling rankings:
1. Jackie Brown (#173)
2. Avatar (#176)
3. Sherlock Holmes (#178)
4. Adventureland (#170)
5. Anvil! The Story of Anvil (#172)
6. The Cove (#177)
7. Julie and Julia (#175)
8. Kids (#179)
9. Angels & Demons (#174)
10. The American Nightmare (#171)
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