Larry Clark, who made the controversial teenage sex drama 'Kids', goes one step further with Ken Park by actually filming explicit sex scenes performed by a cast who look a lot younger than they actually are.
Mix in the occasional moment of extreme violence, and the result is a shocking and sometimes uncomfortable viewing experience that makes one sometimes question the makers' motives. Is Ken Park a serious study of adolescent life in the modern world, a brave attempt at seeing exactly how far the boundaries of cinema can be pushed, or just a source of cheap titillation for pervs? I don't have the answer—but I do have my suspicions.
The film opens with the bloody suicide of the title character (played by Adam Chubbuck), and then goes on to follow the lives of several other teenagers: Shawn (James Bullard), who is secretly banging his girlfriend's mother; Claude (Stephen Jasso), a skateboarder with a drunk bully of a father; Peaches (Tiffany Limos), a pretty girl experimenting with sex, whose bible-thumping dad believes her to be pure—until he catches her indulging in a spot of the nasty; and psycho Tate—messed-up mad masturbator and, ultimately, murderer.
Ken Park's narrative is a collection of disparate ideas, connected only by the theme of dis-functionality in the family unit; the story cuts randomly from one character to another and by the end of the film, not much has really been resolved. However, the film is never boring thanks to good performances from all involved—and all that deviancy, of course.
Some may argue that this is just porn disguised as art; others may argue that the film just captures the reality of life, of which sex is just a part. However, one thing is certain—this is a gutsy movie from a brave bunch of risk-taking film-makers, and one that you won't forget in a hurry.
Mix in the occasional moment of extreme violence, and the result is a shocking and sometimes uncomfortable viewing experience that makes one sometimes question the makers' motives. Is Ken Park a serious study of adolescent life in the modern world, a brave attempt at seeing exactly how far the boundaries of cinema can be pushed, or just a source of cheap titillation for pervs? I don't have the answer—but I do have my suspicions.
The film opens with the bloody suicide of the title character (played by Adam Chubbuck), and then goes on to follow the lives of several other teenagers: Shawn (James Bullard), who is secretly banging his girlfriend's mother; Claude (Stephen Jasso), a skateboarder with a drunk bully of a father; Peaches (Tiffany Limos), a pretty girl experimenting with sex, whose bible-thumping dad believes her to be pure—until he catches her indulging in a spot of the nasty; and psycho Tate—messed-up mad masturbator and, ultimately, murderer.
Ken Park's narrative is a collection of disparate ideas, connected only by the theme of dis-functionality in the family unit; the story cuts randomly from one character to another and by the end of the film, not much has really been resolved. However, the film is never boring thanks to good performances from all involved—and all that deviancy, of course.
Some may argue that this is just porn disguised as art; others may argue that the film just captures the reality of life, of which sex is just a part. However, one thing is certain—this is a gutsy movie from a brave bunch of risk-taking film-makers, and one that you won't forget in a hurry.