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Ken Park (2002)
Surburban freakshow, complete with infidelity and auto-erotic asphyxiation
The first ever screening of KEN PARK was at this years (2002) Toronto Film Festival. The line to the industry screening was five times the size of the cinema and it was lucky for all in the line that Roger Ebert didn't launch into one of his anti-toronto tirades which have been making the news here at the moment. Many folks wanted to see this, the first reunion of Harmony Korine and Larry Clarke since KIDS many years ago. Both have done remarkable work seperately, respectively GUMMO and BULLY, both stand as significant works from two boundary pushing mavericks.
KEN PARK starts off with a simple gliding shot of the titular character and freckly and gingerheaded skater leaving home and heading down towards the local skatepark. Upon arriving he does a few bowls and then sits down on an edge and proceeds to open his napsack and withdraw a video camera. Positioning the camera so that it points back to himself, he calmly reaches again into this bag and pulls out a gun. He looks off into surburbia, smiles and blows his brains out onto the concrete. Several skater kids stand around looking bored. And so begins KEN PARK, a troubling look into the lives of several people from a small town in California.
It begins with the narration of one of the teen characters 'Sean' who fills us in on the background of KEN PARK and then proceeds to introduce the other misfits from his scene. Including his girlfriends mother, a sexy Mom who looks like a Penthouse Pet who invites Sean over once hubby leaves for some explicit scenes of cunnilingus. We also meet a sexually repressed macho-homo (ala American Beauty) who drinks beer while p***ing (shown in detail), who beats his skinny scared skater step-son and watches his pregnant wife chainsmoke and chug beer (the always SCARY Amanda Plummer), another uplifting character is the introverted and articulate urchin who lives with his grandparents and is doing a slow burn into full blown psychosis. He spends his time playing SCRABBLE with his senile grandparents who he constantly berates over any unintentional provocation. He kills time by masturbating while cutting off his caritoid artery while watching female tennis players (zoom function on!).
Several scenes are cinematic firsts, it has an unpredictable quality that begins to cause concern in the viewer as to just how far these filmmakers will stoop to, to get their point across. And just what is the point of this exercise in cine-narcissism? What this parade of freaks reveals about suburban life in general is hard to fathom. It's a catalogue of beastly inane behaviour and explicit sex scenes that range from boring and gross to fun and erotic.
It's bound to cause as much fuss as KIDS did on first release but in the end it feels like too familiar territory for these filmmakers who are building up quite an impressive portfolio of arbus-like insight into the quasi-real world of the scattered remains of the new american dream.
Revolution #9 (2001)
Excellent and disturbing study of one mans nervous breakdown
Apart from a denouement that will leave many angry (i.e those who need everything spelt out for them) this acute and heady psychological drama is well worth checking out.
A goofy 20something (Adrienne Shelley) brings home her handsome catch to meet her folks before announcing their engagement. Look for this in the great opening scene; the discussion the boyfriend is having with his girlfiends young brother over the computer as it's a beautiful piece of foreshadowing.
The gist of the premise is simply this; new boyfriend seems everything a gal could want, until he starts showing signs of beligerance and paranoia. Most of this is aimed at a wishy-washy commercial for a new perfume - he thinks there's something sinister in the subliminals. When he starts looking to others for sympathy to his plight in bringing this secret order to world attention, he ends up with social-egg on his face.
Things progress downhill as we watch his mind unfold. Without the usual theatrics associated with this disease-of-the-week formula, this film packs a wallop and one is sucked into the maelstrom that is his altered state of consciousness. A brave indie that doesn't sell itself out for \the-please-love-me school of sundance wannabe commercialism.