Larry Clark's controversial film about New York City adolescents walking the AIDS tightrope is also an unblinking look at the dehumanizing rituals of growing up. But it really doesn't add up to more than the sum of its various shocks--virgin busting, skinny-dipping, male callousness--overlayed with middle-class disapproval. Clark is hectoring us for cutting kids loose at a terrible time in modern American history, but so are a lot of other people, who also offer alternatives and ideas. The film does nothing to push us toward new thoughts, new solutions, new dreams. It is more like a window onto our worst fantasies about what our children are doing out there on the streets. --Tom Keogh
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Real life Movie!!! Comment: I watched this movie years ago and thought it would be best to purchase it. This movie is a wake up call for parents and young adults. There is a lot of vulgar language used in this movie but when you understand what the movie is all about then you will see why the language is used. If you are not from a urban city then you will not be able to understand the mindset behind this movie. This movie is not for kids despite the title of the movie.
Customer Rating: Summary: A definate good choice Comment: I saw the movie suggested on a Behavioral Health Site, to see what children actually do when they are in the city and don't have many activities to do for school, sports, etc. I took this movie as a way to see kids grow in there element. I would suggest this movie to anyone, it was a great movie. Yes it could be considered controversial, but I considered it a documentary that was a great A+ Production. Customer Rating: Summary: "When your young, nothing matters. When you find something you care about, that's all you got." Comment: Kids is the story of unrestrained teenagers living in the grim atmosphere of poverty-stricken New York in the 90s and their empty, morally wayward lives. It's a controversial movie, featuring extremely graphic yet causal conversations about sex, ten-year olds taking drugs, brutal gang beats, and rape. Though there's naturally subplots, the movie can just as easily be taken as a whole, a film showing the character's typical routines and experiences.
At the center of the story is Telly, a pale, gangly boy with a "addiction" for virgins and who enjoys the act of deflowering them. His friend is the vulgar Casper who is as sexually deviant as he is, and the two regularly socialize with drug-dealers, gangster skateboarders, and all-around degenerate losers. One of Telly's previous girls, Jenny, discovers she has acquired AIDS through Telly, and urgently sets out to find him before he passes the disease to other girls whom he may coerce into intercourse with. Telly and his clique have their own criminal adventures, climaxing at a wild, drug-laced party while Jenny searches the city with increasing hopelessness.
This movie has some of the most realistic dialogue I've ever heard despite its explicitness, and nearly all the slang is up to date. The scenes of downtown New York, the interactions of the characters, and its sheer relentlessness create powerful, resonant feelings upon viewing. It's pessimistic, but you know that there really are unfortunate people like this, some made the way they are due to their terrible environments, others simply vile people whose situations augment their own corruption. It's just a great movie, and thankfully not so simply because it has a reputation.
Customer Rating: Summary: Just Wow..... Comment: This movie brilliant, beautiful, and sick. I think it can only be descibed by the last line of the film, "Jesus Christ, What Happened". If you want a film about life, this is it. KIDS continues in the same steps as movies like 'This Is England' 'American History X' and of course 'Girl, Interrupted'. Customer Rating: Summary: Kids for Real Comment: A must see for every mature teen. So realistic and so real. A lot of kids are good and can't relate but a lot of people can relate and this movie is everyday life for a lot of teens who are just out livin life.
So real it's scary.
