So the movie Kids, directed by Larry Clark, turned 15 today. In that acknowledgement of 15 years is a lament for a New York that used to be.
Kids occupies an odd place in my movie experience. At 28 I wasn’t close to the age group portrayed, but I still had a little affinity from my contact with the SF rave scene. I went out of my way to catch the flick when I was visiting some friends in Pittsburgh, specifically because I wanted to see the portrayal of N.A.S.A. And of course the manufactured controversy about “A wake up call to the world!”
While I distinctively remember the movie, even only seeing it once, I can’t really call it a guilty pleasure. First it’s disturbing. You see a lot of malicious acts in modern cinema, but seeing “realistic” teens do it on the big screen (at least at that time) throws you off kilter. Second, it’s not entertaining. There is an overall plot, but the movie is really a sequence of staged pieces, with a barely engaging connective thread. You don’t walk out of the theater feeling you had a good time. Plus to be a guilty pleasure, it needs repeated viewing, and as I said I’ve only seen it once.
I will say this, it’s a provocative film. And another nice aspect is that New York, the actual ground level city with all it’s rivers of people and gritty nooks and crannys, featured prominently as a character.
Between Kids and Bully, Larry Clark makes me a little nervous.
If I had Netflix, I’d definitely watch Kids again. Available on the iTunes store though, maybe I’ll rent it.
P.S. I didn’t realize N.A.S.A. was homed in The Shelter