rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States, The Netherlands, France; 2002
Directed by Larry Clark & Edward Lachman; produced by Kees Kasander, Jean-Louis Piel; written by Harmony Korine
Starring Adam Chubbuck, James Bullard, Seth Gray, Eddie Daniels, Zara McDowell, Maeve Quinlan, Amanda Plummer
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
Before watching 'Ken park' I was warned this was the uncensored version. If
there really is a censored version, may be the one in theaters, it would
probably miss around an hour out of the hour and a half the movie runs.
Normally I am not bothered by a lot of sex and nudity on screen but here it
was one of the reasons I am not sure what to think of this movie. Why are
certain scenes in it? Why do we have to see a masturbation scene not the way
we normally see them in movies but the way we see them in a porn movies? Was
it only for shocking us or was there a purpose? Or does director Larry Clark
(together with Edward Lachman) wants to show how it really is? In my opinion
it had no point. I was not shocked, but I was very surprised.
This movie comes from the director of 'Kids' and 'Bully', both pretty good
movies about teenagers and their problems. That is another reason why I am
not sure about this movie. 'Kids' is from 1995 and shows us a little what we
see here again. Skaters who make trouble and have sex. Only here the sex is
more explicit and the trouble goes a little further. For some. Is the
director so fascinated, or even obsessed, by young skaters and their
sex-lives, or is he simply fascinated by teenagers and their lives where sex
is an important factor? After 'Kids' I thought the last, after 'Ken Park' I
am not sure anymore.
One last thing. Although I did feel a little uncomfortable with some scenes
and didn't know what to make from others, the movie never bored me. I had to
keep watching and therefore I have to give the movie some credit. May be the
strong performances made the characters more real and the lives more
interesting. If you can stand some very graphic sex scenes you might want to
give it a try.