1. Teenage sex
2. Teenage drug abuse
3. Teenage violence
....
....
Practically everything about teenage issues. Most of the characters in his movies are underaged. And his movies are very, very, VERY explicit. Especially one of the two I watched, Ken Park. Almost throughout the entire movie there's bound to be some sort of naked/sexual scene. Some of them are really unnecessary. What's the point of putting in so much? I mean who wants to see a guy pee?
Larry probably did it to garner attention. When his movies get banned, people would be curious and intrigued to download it (like me for instance). The two movies I watched were Kids and Ken Park.
Kids wasn't really very explicit though it was very close to the border of being called child porn. Most the movie is about young teens getting involved with illegal drug usage, smoking marijuana, stealing, physical violence, date-rape, unprotected sex and etc. After watched Kids I had a kind of disturbing and sad feeling over me. I would say the movie is very "in your face", it's very real. It's pretty much exactly the same as what's been going on so far. It's just sad.
And then today I watched Ken Park, it's pretty much the same as Kids except for the very graphic sex scenes. It's about stories from 4 different teenagers who lived in the same town. I think Ken Park is somewhat...milder than Kids. I didn't find it as disturbing and scary as Kids. The movie ends with a scene which I think would leave the audience with a weird feeling. It came to me as a slight surprise and just weird.
I think people who aren't narrow minded should watch these 2 movies. Not to pick up the bad influences but just to receive a wake up call to the world. These movies will not go very well with people who are easily influenced by the media. They'll most probably start thinking like the characters in the movies, that no one understands them or can accept them. Watch the movies with an open and rational mind.
However, judging from the movies Larry Clark made, I would say he is a pervert. Lol yeah. He always has to put some sex scenes into his movies. But don't let the explicit scenes bother you, look beyond it, there's something in the movies that's gonna talk right back to you.
P.S. You can let me know if you're interested to watch these movies, I can let you know where to find them. ;)
1 comments:
In my opinion, I hated KIDS. It was a totally socially irresponsible film. The late 80s til the late 90s consisted of society's fear of youth, and young people in general. The media influenced adults and parents especially to fear their children, as all kids were criminals without any sense of morality or humanity.
Clark took advantage of this fear that existed and completely exacerbated it. For example, when the kids brutally attacked that man without reason in the park...is that really something and entire generation would commit on any given day?
He addresses some very real concerns that the public should be wary of, such as drug abuse, unprotected sex, etc. However, these activities also existed during their teenage years as well. It's not like the kids of the 90s invented blunt wrapping techniques or inhaling nitrous oxide.
The film circled around one group of kids, from one neighbourhood, in one city, all during one day. For the film to adopt such an ambiguous title as KIDS, making an inaccurate profile on every kid out there, was entirely irresponsible and innapropriate. It's all part of that shock-value sell-out tendency Clark has, as you mentioned in your post.
I respect that you took it upon yourself to watch some very heavy films. I've been studying it in one of my film classes recently so that's why I feel compelled to drop my two cents. Keep watching films with a critical eye, even the 'best' pictures have plenty of flaws. Take Care
Post a Comment