Customer Reviews

Kids

5 star:		(194)
4 star:		(82)
3 star:		(40)
2 star:		(25)
1 star:		(48)

 

 

My pets behave better than this. And yet, this is what kids are doing. This is not an exaggeration or a class statement; these are real kids in real neighborhoods strolling the streets with no moral direction.

It really was almost like watching a documentary on a primate species, how the males and females gather in separate groups to chirp and chatter at each other until it's mating season. Then they all get together in a big pile and have at it with whoever is handiest.

The plot? A day in the life of aimless kids: virgin conquests, shoplifting, public urinating, drinking, smoking, getting high, breaking into a pool for a skinny dip, street fighting (complete with a brutal, perhaps deadly beating for a simple transgression), raves, public fornication, and one girl's discovery that she has AIDS.

There are two scenes that stand out in the movie, the first being when Telly briefly comes home, and his mother is sitting on her hinder, smoking, nursing her new baby, and watching TV. She barely notices Telly is in the room, except to tell him to be quiet so he wouldn't wake the baby. Parenting at its very worst, and you just know that little baby will grow up the same as Telly.

The second is the scene where Casper wakes up after the party. He moves from the tub he passed out in, past his friend who is unconscious over the toilet, to the kitchen where he immediately drains the dregs of the leftover beer bottles and lights a cigarette. He then goes on to take advantage of a girl who is passed out. Wow. Another morning in hell.

Larry Clark has done pretty well with Kids, though his work with 'Bully' was better, smoother, less raw while still being on the cutting edge. The performances from Leo Fitzpatrick (Telly), Justin Pierce (Casper), Chloe Sevigny (Jennie), and Rosario Dawson (Ruby) are more than acceptable. Clark certainly has a talent for bringing teenage angst and degradation to the screen, and for using brutal scenes to hone his dagger of truth home to those brave enough to watch his films. Enjoy!

"Kids" goes right to the heart of everything that parents fear will become of their children. The youths that inhabit this film are not just wayward... they are violent, amoral kids whose state of evolution seems to have regressed to something more primal. The male lead, if you can call him that, in this movie is a truly horrific animal named Telly (played with scary realism by actor Leo Fitzpatrick). Telly seems to exist for no other reason than drink, get high, get into fights, and, oh yeah, deflower as many virgins as possible. He cajoles his conquests by telling them exactly what they want to hear, and once he's accomplished his mission, he will have nothing to do with them. He says he prefers them because they aren't all dirty or have diseases. Yet, the irony is, he is unknowingly carrying the AIDS virus around and endangering his conquests because it would seem that one of his 'virgins' was not quite honest with him. It's not hard to see how Telly can become such a monster. He has no moral compass around which to develop. One brief scene takes place during a brief stopover at his house before he and his friend, Casper, take off for more mayhem. His mother is sitting in the living room, folding laundry and watching TV while being almost totally oblivious to Telly being there. When Telly asks for some money, she says no and asks him when he's going to get a job, he just says that he's looking and then he goes into her room and takes some money, anyway. She wouldn't know if it was missing.
The actual plot of this movie, as thin as it is, focuses on a girl named Jennie (who was one of Telly's conquests) searching the streets of the city to find Telly and stop his virgin conquest because of the AIDS virus she just found out he gave her. Her search is intercut with scenes of a brutal gang beating by Telly and his friends of guy who popped off his mouth, club kids engaging in animalistic carnal behavior, and a morally bankrupt party where kids as young as 10 are drinking up, getting high and participating in even more carnal behavior.
"Kids" gets a positive rating because there is nothing phony about its unflinching view of the existence of kids with too much time on their hands and no direction in their lives. It does not get a higher rating because the images are extremely graphic and difficult to digest. This movie is not for everyone, but, if someone feels the can handle the subject matter, it is a valid tale.

What sets Kids apart from Clark's later films is its grimly realistic acting and it's very easy to believe while Clark's later efforts such as Bully or Ken Park (And clones such as Thirteen.) tend to be more exploitative with dodgy casting choices at that. You can just sense that almost everything that occurs in this film despite the slightest creative license has most likely occurred in real life and the convincing acting of the teenagers who look the part (Not looking like they're 21.) really justify that. A perfect example includes a scene where teenagers mock a smaller kid because he hasn't been laid amongst other scenes.

While I think it's brilliant in its depiction I just can't give it five stars because quite frankly I really wouldn't want to see this again. I understand it's not meant to give any answers and just be a voyeuristic look at a failed generation but it's so grimly realistic that it leaves the viewer bitter and disgusted with no sense that a kid can turn out being anything but a degenerate, the film gives the impression it's a tad too late.

However I think EVERYONE should see this before they start a family as it'll either make you hate teens or show that we've got to clean up our act if we intend future generations to grow up with any sense of conscience and moral decency, ESPECIALLY in economically struggling and socially broken homes. Then hope a film like this is never needed again in the future.

To all of the moms who are upset because they got tricked into buying this for their teens: This movie is not a parent. This movie is not for Kids (I know the title is deceiving). The movie is an accurate depiction of one side of life as it was experienced by inner-city youths in the early 90s. But maybe your kids need to watch it because the wildest kids i know are the ones who are sheltered from reality. Moms and dads do your jobs and let filmmakers make movies that actually mean something. HIV is real and that is the theme of this drama. But I guess that is what a parent is supposed to teach...

First off, "Kids" is a phenomenal movie in absolutely every respect. Harmony Korine's script is amazing (I can already tell I am going to run out of superlatives.) It blows me away that someone so young could write something so self-assured, so masterful. The performances are impossibly real. Add to this Clark's voyeuristic, documentary style and the result is some of the most uncompromising naturalism in cinematic history.

Kids is the kind of movie that makes mainstream filmmakers blanch. It is also the kind of movie that makes mainstream film goers confused and angry. Naturalism has never been a particularly popular style of theatre. If a viewer doesn't have an appreciation for the style, he/she may think the film lacking. Naturalism depicts life objectively, imposing no value judgements. The question of value is left up to the observer, the viewer. It does not shy away from ugliness or uncomfortable situations. Naturalism is often seen as nihilistic, but that is the challenge that is presents. Being truer to life than other dramatic forms, it's meaning is more obscured.

Many have interpreted "Kids" to be a "wake up call" concerning the growing menace AIDS poses to young people (I think it was even printed on the box cover.) That is one interpretation. I see a much more sinister theme at the heart of "Kids." For me, AIDS just served as a metaphor for a diseased culture. These kids are sick mentally and emotionally. To me, these hopeless characters represent an entire generation of lost youth. Their general apathy and animalistic hedonism is a perfectly understandable response to the empty, violent, plastic, consumer/commercial culture that raised them. Yes, they are contracting AIDS; but what about those that escape it? What are they going to do with their lives? Of course, this is just my interpretation. The film itself remains objective and impartial. In fact, I think Korine would disagree with me and that is why I love this movie so much.

Watch this if you like powerful, unflinching films that challenge assumptions and make lasting impressions.

Yes, some teens live like this and if I filmed my late teens / early twenties, it would look very much like the movie "Kids". This is an ugly, brutal, funny and important look into adolescent existance. Highly recommended.

I was one of the lucky ones. While I watched the rest of my friends become drug addicts, contract HIV and slip into depression, I was able to emerge from that lifestyle relatively healthy. That destructive, hedonistic existance was my coming of age and I'm happy that I survived it and have continued in life to be successful -- not part of the forgotten urban underclass which most of the charachters in "Kids" are destined for.

Hopefully, this film will serve to educate parents and young people that a dark side of reality is right underneath the surface (through the tunnel? over the bridge?) The lives of most teenagers is not accurately depicted in the depravity of "Kids" -- but the lives of most teenagers is also not accurately depicted in the idyllic fantasies of Dawson's Creek. Hopefully people will see a middle ground and use the ideas presented in "Kids" to put their lives in context.

As far as the technical aspects of the film -- try not to confuse free-form improvisation and uncomfortable situations with bad acting - the acting is incredible. Try not to confuse documentary style filmmaking with bad cinemetography. The images are beautiful.

All told, this is one of the best movies I've ever seen.

I am 17 years old, but was 15 when I saw the film "Kids". At that time I had to take the required high school health class. I nearly told my teacher about this movie, but I decided against it. I'm not sure how adults would handle seeing this movie. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure I know how I handled it. It really made me take a hard look at the attitude of people my age. What shocked me more then some of the despicable things the characters did, was their overall sense of misdirection and ennui.My generation is bored, rich, and unsupervised. These are the facts, not merely my opinion. Oddly enough, I felt the most disturbing part of the movie was the ONLY one with a parent in it.(Telly's mother.) She had absolutely no consern about what her 17 year old son was doing, yet she brought another child into the world.Despite what other reviewers say this film is real, and it's happening in subburbs just like the one I live in. See the movie,it scared the living snot out of me.

First time viewing this film and it brought back some memory's of my adolescent years during that time frame. I was around the same age as them (between 15 and 16 years old) living in NYC. Despite the cast having no previous acting experience, the performances are all wonderful, especially Justin Pierce's (as Casper).
The realistic story line, the classic dialogue, and the horrific finale are the film's best features. There isn't a whole lot to the story, other than it chronicles an eventful day in the life of Telly (Leo Fitzpatrick), his friend Casper (Justin Pierce) and their inner-circle of similar-minded, sex/drug-crazed associates. Telly has made it a duty to "deflower" as many girls as possible and later brag to his friends about his latest conquest; but by day's end, guaranteed, he would've done it again (a record for him to do two girls in one day). The main conflict of the story surfaces about 30 minutes in, when Jennie (Chloe Sevigny) discovers that she had contracted HIV from Telly during their first sexual encounter and it becomes her mission to track him down before another young girl shares her fate.

These are the kids of yesteryear, the forgotten generation; these kids are America's worst nightmare because they are young, dumb and just do not care; the fact that they do not care makes them especially dangerous. The imagery is extreme and frightening. If there ever was an honest thing these kids ever did, it would have to be willfully giving change to the less fortunate (a man with no legs who rides a skateboard on the subway). We also get images of younger children, swearing, drinking, smoking, talking like adults; trying to fit in with their peers who are not much older than they are. I was actually quite frightened by some baby pictures of our main character and then I see what's on screen.

Leo Fitzpatrick puts a face on a sleeping monster in America: the doomed generation of young people that disregard older generations completely and follow their own set of corrupted values. Telly is reckless and stupid; it is impossible to really sympathize with his character, even though we probably are. But it is difficult to do so, mainly because of his preference for deflowering girls younger than him (the first girl we see him with is only 12; he's about 15 or 16) and that could open up discussion for Telly possibly being a borderline pedophile.

I kept saying to myself "Where are the parents?" One could very easily ask that question. Strangely enough, Telly lives with his mother and baby brother. She is the only parent in the film and she seems as every bit as irresponsible as her misguided son.

Watching "Kids," I couldn't believe how real it is, how it sucks the viewer into its dark, dangerous, and seductive world; it's easy to see how a weak person could believe that what goes on in this movie is cool. It begs the most fundamental question any responsible person could ever ask, "Do you know where your children are?"

It is a question that every good parent should ask when their teenage son or daughter steps out that front door and into the "real" world. This is not a film that will leave a very good taste in your mouth, but then again it isn't supposed to. This is better and more honest than any reality program out there and it will scare the daylights out of you. This is our world, we must change it.

I am a teenager and i saw this movie for the first time a couple months ago. By the way, everyone i watched it with, myself included, was stoned at the time. When the movie first started, i didn't know what the hell i was looking at. There were just these two kids who looked like they were 12 or 13 years old making out on the screen with no music or anything in the backround and film quality that looked like something out of a low-budget documentary. The realness of how they portay KIDS in this movie is frightningly accurate, and if you say otherwise you are either an ignorant adult or a kid who has never been to a party in the last 10 years. It made me think about how me and my friends used to be back in middle school. Smoking weed, chasing girls, with no parental concern or supervision. Althouth my experiences were not as insane as those portrayed in the movie, people need to realize that there are many whose are. I luckily got through that stage of my life without anything really bad happening to me, but there were others that were not as fortunate. There have been many of my peers that have either died in drunk driving accidents or commited suicide and it just deeply concerns me to think that people can see a movie like this and then say that it is "pointless." These people need to pull their heads out of their a**es and get a clue. I think that every parent in the united states should be required to watch this movie. You know those so called "slice of life" hollywood movies? Well this is the closest thing to an actual one of those that i have ever seen. UNDERSTAND?

I remember seeing this movie roughly around the age of 15 or 16. My uncle rented this movie for me and two much younger cousins on accident thinking that it was truly for "kids". Needless to say this movie has made a VERY lasting impression on myself as well as anyone I know who has seen it. One is either moved to tears or incensed with anger by viewing this film. I think that every parent needs to watch this movie and others like it with any children that they have over the age of 16 and then listen very carefully to what their kids have to say after viewing this movie...who knows, they just might learn something about their child and the adolescent world they they all currently have to grow up in. This a REAL eye opener!