Kids (1995)

A movie like Kids is one that leaves the viewer thinking after he/she finishes it. It causes one to think more deeply about certain issues that they might otherwise ignore, and the movie accomplishes it well. Other notable movies could be any Michael Moore documentaries, God Grew Tired of Us, Hotel Rwanda, Jesus Camp, et al. When movies like these appear out of the film industry, they usually come in the form of a documentary, and in turn, do not receive much publicity. Sharing underrated movies like this is really enjoyable for me, as it allows me to turn others away from the recut and revised crap that the film industry churns out every month.

Kids deals with four characters; Telly (Leo Fitzpatrick), Casper (Justin Pierce), Jenny (Chloe Sevigny), and Ruby (Rosario Dawson). Telly and Casper are a pair of friends who run around New York doing illicit activities like graffiti, smoking pot, stealing and drinking alcohol, ganging victims, etc. Casper is an interesting character of the two, as his cult of personality really serves to liven the actor’s performance and, from personal experience, his actions don’t seem played out for a movie at all. Telly (with the exception of looking extremely like McLovin) is a more hesitant character, although he doesn’t mind doing the morally wrong activities alongside his buddies, he tends to seem nervous beforehand at certain points, as when he’s offered a dose of nitrous oxide (in a balloon, as is commonly seen) he refuses to ingest it, but has no problem in doing more drugs later in the scene. Telly is also on his peak of hormone levels in the film, and has sex with a 14-year old girl who later finds out she has tested positive for the HIV-simplex virus. The director points a hint of irony out here, because as the girl has only had sex with a single boy, the scene is juxtaposed with a girl who has had sex with 8-9 men and tests negative for all STDs.

The film achieves success in numerous aspects, the most being how it explores such in-depth issues while seemingly showing an average scene of drug use. In one part, four young boys (ages 9-11) are sitting around smoking a joint and one of the boy’s starts to  talk about how cool a crucifix that one of the other boys is wearing is; “Jesus man? He was a cool guy…that’s cool….”  The movie also left me with an extremely strong feeling towards AIDS and the damage it has caused (1.8+ mill/yr), and how safe sex advisory is very important for pre-pubescent kids to learn.

               

The camera work of the film is amazing, not only does the cinematography not only focus on what is at hand, but the numerous angles the audience is shown serves to give them different perspectives. New York is also shown to a greater extent than in most NY films here, and it was practically immediately clear that the film took place there. The audio in the film isn’t minimal, but it doesn’t play a very huge role, however when it did appear, I felt it was a great addition to the scene at hand and the movie as a whole.

Kids isn’t a movie to be taken lightly, and for good measure. It explores a constant issue the world still battles in-depth and leaves the viewer questioning the horrendousness of disease and sickness.

Innovation: 9.5
Entertainment: 9.5
Audio: 7.0
Overall: 9.4

Personal Rating*: 10.0

*The personal rating differs from the others as in I don't take factors of how the film would be in the industry and audiences in the normal ratings. The PR is based solely on my overall liking of the film.