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This movie has fascinated me since I first saw it. It is a snapshot of 90s New York. Although it is the inspiration for movies like “Mid90s” (2018) and is considered a skate classic, I think skating is only a small factor in this story. This film is raw, it is so raw people thought this was a documentary upon first watch. They assumed the dialogue was all improvised. In fact, Harmony Korine (director of Gummo 1997) wrote the screen play for this film. He made the screen play so true life, people mistook it for improvisation.
Like the title of this film suggests this is a story surrounding “Kids”- the unsupervised youths of 90s New York. We barely see adults in this film. The main characters are not likeable, in fact they are vulgar and vile. Telly (Leo Fitzpatrick) and Caspar (Justin Pierce) play their roles perfectly. I appreciate this movie for its realisic storytelling, we are really just bystanders, flies on the wall. It is a depiction of young America that is rare to see. It is funny to think that “Clueless” (1995), came out in the same year. Both films are about teenagers in America in 1995 and yet they couldn’t be more opposite.
The movie has received a lot of backlash over its young cast. People have said they were exploited and that the movie is basically porn. I often see this film being compared to more recent shows such as “Euphoria” (2019), which also tackles such issues as adolescent drug use and sex. Bearing in mind this movie was made in 1995, production took place in 1994. This was one of the first films to tackle the AIDs crisis in its plot. So, needless to say, it is before its time. This film I think can over step a few boundaries and this is what makes it uncomfortably realistic.
The directing is brilliant. Set over the course of a day and a night we follow the boys freely around the city. Often when films are only set over the course of a day it can feel slightly claustrophobic. However New York through the lens of a teenage boy is far from boring. One of my favourite scenes in this movie is the “boy vs girl talk”. It is one of the few humorous scenes in the film. The different conversations the group of girls have compared to the group of boys regarding sex. It is funny to hear the boys say one thing, cut-clip and the girls completely disagree. It is dirty, it is uncensored, it is real.
Unlike Mid90s I think you will find this movie is harder to romanticise. You may at times be distracted by the warm colour scheme, baggy clothes and skateboards of New York on a summers day, a city that is lusted over time and time again. But this depiction is gritty. This is not a fun coming of age. In fact it bares more resemblance to “The Lord Of The Flies”, a place of little adult guidance, where the young characters of the story have been allowed to run wild. The ending to this film is heart-breaking, an outcome that leaves you with a sick taste in your mouth.
This film is not for the faint-hearted.
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