Larry Clark Movies
Whether you regard his films a tragic reflection on the state of disenfranchised youth or exploitational trash that actually encourages the questionable behavior he claims to spotlight, there's no denying that former social renegade photographer turned controversial filmmaker Larry Clark has forced a generation of parents and children to take pause and consider their relationships to each other and the tragedy that can result from negligence and lack of communication. An artist who readily admits to his sometimes dangerous youth serving as inspiration for his often disturbing ventures into the world of teenage sex, violence, and drug abuse, Clark's films are consistent in their uncompromising approach to the darker side of teen angst. Often viewing such shocking activities in agonizing detail, Clark has been labeled everything from child pornographer to visionary genius. A photographer long before he moved into motion pictures, the future filmmaker led a sometimes violent youth during his tenure at Central High School in Tulsa, OK. Obsessed with capturing the sometimes morbid beauty of youthful depravity, Clark documented his youth in black-and-white stills (Tulsa) before studying under Walter Sheffer and Gerrard Baker at the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee, WI. Subsequently releasing such luridly titled photo collections as Teenage Lust, Clark moved into the realm of motion pictures in 1995 with the highly controversial Kids. Drawing equal measures of praise and criticism due to its unflinching portrayal of amoral urban teens, Kids sent the nation's parents into a frenzy of paranoia and became one of the first unrated films to receive wide release and general critical acceptance. With it's pseudo-documentary feel and startlingly frank dialogue, Kids proved an effective wake-up call to both teens and parents alike regarding such topics as drugs, sexually transmitted diseases, and violence among disaffected youth. The film also proved a career igniter for its youthful writer, Harmony Korine, who subsequently forged a directorial career with such controversial Dogma 95 efforts as Gummo (1997) and Julien Donkey-Boy (1999). Wanting to take a more personal approach for his next effort, Clark referred to his questionable youthful exploits as the groundwork for the notably more polished Another Day in Paradise (1998). Though it sported such recognizable actors as James Woods and Melanie Griffith, Paradise retained the base of Kids' primary themes but presented them in a markedly more traditional and palpable fashion. Though Clark's own personal insight lent itself well to the tale of corrupted youth and the destructive life groundwork it can lay, once again the controversial nature of the film found it playing theatrically in only limited runs, only without the attention Kids had received (possibly due to its more conventional presentation). Though the film performed moderately well in limited release, it was soon relegated to showings on late-night cable television, where it would eventually find a somewhat receptive audience in those who had missed its obscure theatrical run. Undissuaded by the general indifference with which the public greeted Another Day in Paradise, Clark pressed on with his development of yet another suburban nightmare, this time rooted even closer to reality than his previous two efforts. Based on the chilling real-life murder of a Florida teen who traumatized those around him with physical and psychological abuse, Bully once again opted for a more traditional Hollywood-style approach and took Clark's familiar themes to the lengths of excess. Though some complained that with the excessive nudity and frequent teen sex scenes the film was more interested in flesh than substance (star Bijou Phillips lashed out at Clark following the film's premier due to some particularly revealing shots and one of the accused teens voiced strong objection to her portrayal in the film), Clark's supportive fan-base hailed the film as another challenging and effective effort from the fearless director. Next forsaking reality for a remake of Roger Corman's Teenage Caveman, Clark nevertheless retained his trademark theme of teenage rage while also finding time to include nearly enough sex and nudity among its young stars to qualify as softcore porn. 2002 found Clark re-teaming with Kids scribe Korine for Ken Park. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Photographer and filmmaker Larry Clark offers another look at the inner workings of urban youth culture in this comedy drama. Jonathan (Jonathan Velasquez) is a teenaged El Salvadorian refugee living in a primarily Mexican-American and African-American neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles. Jonathan and a handful of fellow Salvadorian émigrés who are his best friends stand out like sore thumbs on the block, due less to their national origin than because they've rejected the hip-hop music and fashion around them in favor of old-school punk, as favored by the Ramones and latter-day Latino bands such as Suicidal Tendencies. Jonathan and his pals Kiko (Francisco Pedrasa), Eddie (Eddie Velasquez), Porky (Usvaldo Panameno), and Spermball (Milton Velasquez) have a group of their own, and Jonathan, a sweet but streetwise kid who has a way with the girls, is the lead singer. Like all good punk rockers, Jonathan and his bandmates are seriously into skateboarding, and one day they hop several busses and make a pilgrimage to a legendary skate spot in Beverly Hills. If the kids felt like outsiders in South Central, they soon discover they're unwelcome outcasts in the moneyed L.A. suburbs; before long they're on the run from cops as well as Anglo skaters, and even Jonathan's chance assignation with a neighborhood sexpot leads to no small share of drama. Wassup Rockers received its world premiere at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jonathan Velasquez, Francisco Pedrasa, (more)
- 2002
Filmmaker Larry Clark reunites with Kids screenwriter Harmony Korine, with some additional directorial assistance from cinematographer Ed Lachman, for this look at a group of troubled teens and their guardians living in Southern California. The film opens at a skate park, where a troubled character takes his own life; it then proceeds to chronicle the somewhat-interrelated lives of his classmates. The audience is introduced to Tate (James Ransome), a young man living in relative misery with his board-game-playing grandparents. Also tormented by his living situation is Claude (Stephen Jasso), a quiet, shy teen constantly henpecked by his brutish father (Wade Andrew Williams). Meanwhile, the vapid Shawn (James Bullard) occasionally trades verbal spars with his mother, in between leaving the house for sex sessions with his girlfriend's mom. Finally there is Peaches (Tiffany Limos), living alone with her devoutly religious father as she covertly experiments with her boyfriend (Mike Apaletegui). Though Ken Park played at such festivals as Toronto and Telluride in the fall of 2002, it would languish on the shelf for months and months afterward, as its explicit content made finding a U.S. distributor near-impossible. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Ransome, Tiffany Limos, (more)
Part of the "Creature Features" retro horror movie series on Cinemax, Teenage Caveman is an exploitative remake of Roger Corman's 1958 sci-fi B-movie, re-imagined by director Larry Clark (Kids, Bully). In a post-apocalyptic Neanderthal-style future world, teenage tribal leader David (Andrew Keegan) kills his Shaman father (Paul Hipp) for trying to have sex with his girlfriend, Sarah (Tara Subkoff). Because his father is this big spiritual leader, David is publicly punished and left for dead. However, his attractive band of teenage malcontents rescues him before the whole gang is swept up in a nuclear storm. They end up in the conveniently stylish 20th century dwelling of uninhibited Neil (Richard Hillman) and sexed-up Judith (Tiffany Limos), leading to the inevitable orgy of naked teenagers indulging in sex, drugs, and general gracelessness. The gore-filled conclusion involves several characters literally exploding. Teenage Caveman was the last production for late exploitation mogul Samuel Z. Arkoff. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrew Keegan, Tara Subkoff, (more)
Photographer and filmmaker Larry Clark, who made a controversial feature debut with the disturbing drama Kids, returns with another disquieting look at amoral and sexually precocious youth. Bobby (Nick Stahl) is a high school student growing up in southern Florida in the early '90s. Bobby is also a borderline psychotic; he frequently lashes out with brutal violence against those around him and especially enjoys humiliating his best friend Marty (Brad Renfro). While Bobby professes to hate and fear homosexuals, he goads Marty into performing phone sex with men, makes Marty and his friends watch hardcore gay porn films with him, and may have sexually abused Marty. But Marty is hardly the only victim of Bobby's abuse; Bobby has sexually assaulted Marty's girlfriend Lisa (Rachel Miner) and more than once has barged in on the couple while they were making love. Lisa's best friend Ali (Bijou Phillips) has also been raped by Bobby, and he has mistreated nearly everyone in their circle of friends. One night, Marty, Lisa, Ali, and several others decide Bobby's cycle of abuse must stop. But their solution is as ugly as the problem -- the teens stab Bobby, slit his throat, crush his head with a baseball bat, and throw his body into the bay, where the remains will be eaten by alligators. Bully is based on a book by journalist Jim Schutze, which recounted the facts of the 1993 murder of Bobby Kent, who after years of abusing his friends and classmates, was killed by seven of his acquaintances in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. As with Kids, Larry Clark's startlingly graphic depiction of sex, violence, and drug use among teenagers crossed the boundaries of what the MPAA could permit in an R-rated film, and the picture's distributors chose to release the film without a rating. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brad Renfro, Rachel Miner, (more)
Following the acclaim for his 1995 Kids debut, Larry Clark directed this drug-crime drama, set in the Midwest of the '70s. Teen junkie Bobbie (Vincent Kartheiser) shares an apartment with his girlfriend Rosie (Natasha Gregson Wagner) and pal Danny (Branden Williams). Bobbie is injured during an encounter with a security guard but regains his health under the supervision of his dynamic drug-dealer uncle Mel (James Woods). After a successful robbery of speed from an out-of-town doctor's clinic, Bobby, Rosie, Mel, and Mel's melancholy gal Sid (Melanie Griffith) encounter gunplay in a drug deal gone sour. With Mel and Bobby both wounded, they retreat to the headquarters of a gun merchant known as the Reverend (James Otis). When Rosie loses her baby, she slips into a depression and more drug use. Mel recovers and begins planning another heist, but the group is beginning to unravel. Shown at 1998 film fests (Venice, Toronto). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Woods, Melanie Griffith, (more)
Kids offers a bleak, unblinking view of a group of vacuous, thoughtless New York City teens in their ceaseless quest for sex, drugs, and trouble. The film primarily follows Telly (Leo Fitzpatrick), who, having just realized the conquest of his latest virgin, brags that by day's end he will claim one more. While he and his friends brag to each other about their sexual exploits, Jenny (Chloë Sevigny) describes her own less-than-romantic encounter with Telly. Soon after the conversation, she learns that Telly, the only boy with whom she has slept, has infected her with the AIDS virus. Devastated, she sets out to find him and share the news. Meanwhile, Telly has set his sights on Darcy (Yakira Peguero), a lovely young girl whom he invites for a skinny dip at the local pool. Together with his friends, Telly drags Darcy along, and the entire crew jump the fence after hours. There he presents his now-familiar spiel which Darcy naïvely accepts, and the scene is set for disaster as the group heads back to a vacant apartment for an evening of sex, booze, drugs, and debauchery. Jenny finally locates Telly at the impromptu party and rushes to confront him, although she may be too late to save the next virgin in line from sharing her fate. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, (more)
