Kids (1995)

Kids follows a sexually active, substance-dependant teen, Telly, as he tries to deflower any and every virgin he meets. He submerses himself into this lifestyle with a group of equally aimless friends. Chloë Sevigny’s character, Jennie, is the extent of depth in this film. She mistakenly finds that she contracted HIV from Telly in her first sexual experience and spends the rest of the film reacting and attempting to prevent another demoralizing blow to a young woman. There is a lot of raw and shocking material that crosses new controversial boundaries and offers brutal visions of a life misled. Though an honorable attempt at an important issue, this film misses what it may have been aiming for. Harmony Korine’s script focuses too much on the excesses and not enough on the characters involved, thus leaving the film shallow, rather disturbing, and overall ineffective.

5/10 - steven