Product: Kids (1995)
Rating: 5.0
A shocking piece of sheer realism
When I first saw this film I cringed and squirmed in my seat, totally stunned at what our kids have become in our society. It's like a gifted filmmaker took a camera out on the streets and just let it roll, capturing every facet of teenagers gone wild and off the deep end of delinquency. Nothing is masked by censorship, but is here in its entirety with every brutal and horrific image ever imagined played out here mercilessly. The story focuses on Telly, who has this overwhelmingingly insatiable hunger for making girls lose their virginity. But he may have gone too far. One girl, Jennie, who had a wild time with him, has been infected with the AIDS virus and must scour the city of New York to find Telly and warn him of the pending danger that will one day claim him as well. But her search is in vain, mixed with the horror of the inevitable that she will die at an early age thanks to him. Telly is off with his buddies living it up, and the night Jennie finds him, she makes the horrific discovery that she may be too late. This film is definitely not for the faint hearted or the saints. On a level or morale it looks nasty and hideous to the art of filmmaking, but when looked at from the perspective of movies as an art form, it is a genuine masterpiece of seizing real images in life on film and playing it out before the eyes of those who refuse to admit that the youth of our country is going in the wrong direction in life. This film is daring in every way possible, from the language teenagers use to their vile ideas of how to have fun in life. Shocking images abound, from its grueling opening scene to its final shot that leaves the viewer awed, stunned, and wordless. Watch it if you can stand it, but be very brave for the images that will flash across that screen.