Tribeca 2021: The Kids Review

This will be one of several reviews from this year’s Tribeca film Festival. To follow our coverage, click here.

1995’s Kids, a film that felt more like a documentary about kids living on the streets of New York City became an unexpected hit. The Kids, is a documentary follows the lives of the main characters from Kids, offering a reflective look at life after the fame and where and how these people, now adults, live. Unfortunately, some of the main actors from Kids have since passed away. As tragic as that is, it doesn’t entirely escape being just a little cliched. The Kids sets itself apart from the original film, and even though it could be considered a sequel of sorts, the look and feel of this film is an entirely different beast. And that’s a good thing.

Featuring narration from some of the cast from the original film, including Hamilton Harris who is also credited as a writer. this is perhaps why the seediness and exploitative nature of the first film was not present here. It feels like some of the “kids” who made it to adulthood found a way to shield themselves from the blinding light and false promises of superstardom. Now they can take the time to look back on the good memories, even though many of them are bittersweet.

Those looking for what made Kids so controversial won’t find it here. Instead, The Kids sees a group of connected people at some point in time that now seemed far away. The reality of what Harmony Korine and Larry Clarke created wasn’t a masterpiece and rather a b-grade home video some punk put together over the summer for fun. Those who look deeper can see it for what it really is. There was nobody there to comfort or guide some of these kids when they questioned things. To say these kids were vulnerable is an understatement. Harmony Korine (who wrote Kids) was a kid himself. The only adult in the group was Larry Clarke. And it becomes glaringly obvious that the allure of money and the Hollywood life were the only things on his mind.

The Kids touches on the truth of how the movie Kids impacted and influenced the people that lived it. And there are so many questions. The film includes a lot of behind-the-scenes content which will open eyes to just how wrong everything was. It was the 90s but the rules were different then. If Kids had been made today, there would be no way that Larry Clarke would get away with what he did. And these kids did it all for a measly $1000 bucks which makes this entire story even more tragic.

still courtesy of Tribeca

For more, please follow me on Twitter and Letterboxd or visit my blog. 

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook.

juliegnz