VIDEO PICK OF THE WEEK #6
by Gerry Wang

KIDS
(directed by Gus Van Sant)

_____Brace yourself for this one. This movie is perverted, sickening, disturbing, and just plain uncomfortable to watch. Which is why I am recommend it, because of the lasting power of its imagery. You won't ever look at teenagers the same way.

_____KIDS is about one day in the life of a group of teenagers, 14-15 years old. The opening scene is of Telly, the main character, having sex with a 13-year old looking girl, while she's yelping "It hurts." This is because she's a virgin, and as Telly later explains, he prefers deflowering virgins because they feel tighter.

_____Later we meet his good friend, Casper or something. I forgot. Then we follow the duo as they shoplift, beat people up, and go to friends' apartments to take drugs and smoke joints. When Telly and Casper take drugs, so do younger kids who look 8-9 years old. They look like they've done this for a long time. I mean, it's actually little kids smoking a cigarette! Somehow, this unnerved me.

_____There is a subplot involving a girl named Jenny, who learns that Telly has given her the HIV virus. So she spends the whole day trying to locate him to stop him from spreading the disease, while she herself copes w/ the fact that she's gonna die. She finds out that Telly is pursuing another virgin that same day, and she wants to stop him before he gives the virgin his HIV. Just plain sad.

_____This is one time where I am willing to give away the ending. Because you know it's going to happen. Telly ends up having sex w/ that virgin, and she's infected. Jenny gets drugged out, and Casper rapes her while she's passed out. So now they all have AIDS.

_____You can see why this movie upset me so much. These kids look like our little brothers and sisters. That girl in the beginning looked so young. She could be anyone's baby daughter, and there she is, having sex and squealing in pain. It was difficult to watch KIDS.

_____So I think you should rent KIDS so you can have a truly fidgety experience. I couldn't just sit still while I watched. But it is an important message about the degeneration of childrens' values in this day and age. And after the movie ends, we are compelled to try to make the world a better, moral place.

***/4
Chick-o-meter: 3 (While girls will appreciate the morality of the film, some scenes are much too nauseating to view)