Starring Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce
Chloe Sevigny and Rosario Dawson
Written by Larry Clark and Harmony Korine
Directed by Larry Clark
Production Year 1996
Running time 91 minutes
One of the most controversial films of recent times Kids is a film by maverick American photographer and writer Larry Clark whose work frequently explores the dark side of the teenage world and features drug use, underage sex and violence.
It tells the story of one day in the life of a group of New York teenagers in the mid 1990s
Their casual encounters, drug use and conversations are recorded in documentary style and the verisimilitude of the performances is at times unnerving.
The co-writer of the film Harmony Korine met director Clark whilst skateboarding in Washington Square Park in New York. Clark asked him to write a script about teenagers and within three weeks Korine had done so. The result is startling and shocking and for some a highly dubious piece of work. It provoked much debate over it's artistic merit and whether it is exploitative or even immoral.
One of the principal funders of the film Miramax was owned by the Walt Disney corporation at the time of production and under pressure from Disney was forced to dissociate the parent company from the finished film. Kids cost $1.5 million went on to make $20 million dollars worldwide.
Kids is without doubt the most challenging film we have screened to date
- are you up for it?
