Kids (1995)

Watching Kids was the closest I'd felt to my home state in a long time. The city cried out to me, which is curious considering the film barely even once leaves the kids it's following to show off the city. Then again I was a kid when I lived there, though admittedly nothing like these kids... Harmony Korine's film mirrors the madness of the city by following two boys through a normal day on the streets as they swear, drink, smoke blunts, and most importantly (and utterly destructively) fuck. These boys wanna fuck. More importantly they wanna fuck virgin's. This is why Kids could never have been made in 2021. Not only are the actors minors but their characters are middle school age. It's way too real and uncomfortable for modern release and at the same time it makes it's subject matter. Watching Kids is like watching a film about a concentration camp in WWII. The film works as an observation meant to inspire conversation. I hoped at one point there would be a happy ending. I realize that was ridiculous to even consider. For as morbid of a film as Kids is though, there's so much life involved in it's big mess. Life that has the power to connect with it's audience if they've lived any sort of life... Powerful enough to drag you along it's terrible tale. And when you consider that Korine was only 19 when he wrote the script its even more impressive. Perhaps most impressive though it's two stars who create teenage boys so despicable and real that you want to forget about them the moment the film ends.

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