So how did I finally decide that Clark wasn’t a concerned provocateur but just a sick dude with a creepy fetish for filming sex scenes with pre-pubescent-looking actors? It comes down to one scene in Bully that I consider the most gratuitous shot I’ve ever seen onscreen.
Bijou Philips is talking on the phone, which apparently bores Larry Clark’s camera, because it soon decides that this is a great time to pan down, gander up her mini-skirt, and give us a close-up. What exactly was he trying to say there? That even though Bijou is willing to fellate a boy she just met in the back seat of a moving car, she amazingly still often wears panties while talking on the phone?
There’s literally no artistic reason that I can imagine to justify this shot. Was Clark supposed to be warning me that Bijou was potentially giving the family’s cat or dog a really tantalizing view? There is just no way to witness this scene without completely reevaluating the tons of footage he’s produced that were extremely creepy to begin with.
So what’s the point? Perhaps just that if you and I ever find ourselves in a discussion about modern-day censorship, and you bring up Clark, I’ll have to defend him, but I’ll be upfront about it the whole way. There is without a doubt no other artist in the history of the world that makes my stomach churn quite like Larry Clark.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
So you think Clark is a sick man and the film has one of the worst scenes ever, yet you advertise the DVD on Amazon? Kind of a mixed message, don't you think?
There are kids like the ones in "Kids" and that final scene was supposed to disturb and repulse you.
2 - Jon Sobel
I'm with you. Speaking of ridiculous censorship, did you hear about the BBC censoring Fairytale of New York?
3 - Phillip Winn
I passionately dislike the idea of censorship, but I've seen plenty of things I wish didn't exist, and managed to avoid many more.
There's probably a line, possibly an ever-changing, but it's hard to define, so I'd rather err on the side of no censorship at all combined with warning -- like this one -- so that people know when to steer clear.
4 - Colin
The Fairy Tale is no-longer being censored, and there has been much debate over and attention on the cutting of the words Faggot and Slut from the lyrics... There's a good and lively debate at The Guardian's comment is free site. With gay rights activist Peter Tatchell (who's Britain's most famous of that ilk) arguing not in favour of the ban but for a consistent policy from the BEEB on 'hate words'... I enjoyed your thoughtful piece Brad - isn't the eyeball slice in Chien Andalous (sic? probably) completely and deliberately gratuitous? I've never seen a Clark film so I can't add much - I bought the soundtrack CD and that's pretty disturbing.
In MOST Western societies there are limits and checks on freespeech but it's always a tricky line to draw.
5 - V. Smith
A great example of defending unpopular freedom of expression. Yep, larry Clark's a creep. No doubt that he's not "normal" whatever that means.
Still, Kids, I think, can still be a brutal wake-up call for teenagers who think that they're the first to be rebellious or sexually promiscuous. Unlike Ken Park, which didn't really have a message other than "How can you get your movie banned in the US?" Kids is one of his best works. If it makes you vomit, OK, but it's not like he's making kids do naughty things just for the hell of it in that movie.
Now, Brad, how do you feel about Don Imus?
6 - Brad Laidman
I can actually rarely understand a word Imus says - I listen to Howard Stern and he's been saying that Imus was a racist for years so it appears at least slightly true - Stern actually fascinates me because he gets humor from retarded people and angry midgets which seems all king of wrong. You should be mocking the strong, but Stern is sort of empathetic in his retard mocking - as if he were "there but for the grace of god go I"