Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 17

0 EXPRESS ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL FRIDAY AUGUST 18 19 9 5 Local rating will keep many kids from (Kid 1 Vi ii I More 'Kids' Roger Ebert's review of, 'Kids' in Venue E4 An employee with United Artists, who refused to give her name, said theater ushers will check moviegoers' identification right before the show starts to ensure no one underage is there. The theater chain is the only one scheduled so far to show the movie in town. But Albuquerque youth aren't alone kids under 18 in California and Colorado can't see the movie either at United Artists. Streeter said the movie contains "elements that are inappropriate" for young viewers. "In Albuquerque, in the state of New Mexico, our policy needs to be 18 (years old) due to state regulations.

By Rebecca Roybal Journal Staff Writer A national theater chain is making sure Albuquerque kids don't see a movie about themselves. "Kids," which is about and stars teen-agers, opens today in Albuquerque at the High Ridge Theater, but United Artists Theater Circuit Inc. is taking an NC-17 rating a step further, keeping younger teens out. "No one under 18 will be admitted, period," said Shelley Streeter, director of marketing for United Artists. Our legal department has deemed that," she said.

Streeter would not give further details on the issue. The movie, written by 19-year-old Harmony Korine, follows the lives of a small group of Manhattan teens for a day where they recklessly indulge in unsafe sex, drug abuse and violence. The film's distributor released the film unrated and a press screening in Albuquerque was not rated. However, the Motion Picture Association of America slapped the film with the adults-only rating, or NC-17. That means young people can't see the movie even if they are accompanied by parents or a legal guardian.

Streeter said each theater chain decides whether to rate a movie when it is released unrated.1 "We're not just picking on Albu- querque," she After flip-flopping on its decision on whether to run the film in Albuquerque at all, United Artists, based in Englewood, on Wednesday decided that the showbill go on, Streeter said. For those bent on seeing the flick, "Kids" will eventually be available on video, but a release date has not yet been set, according to the film's distributor, Shining Excalibur Films. See LOCAL on PAGE B4 ft 01! 'Kids' assaults emotions with graphic, hopeless depiction By John Horn The Associated Press 1 lti cr i A a' i i i I I I- i I I -j LOS ANGELES If you've seen the "Red Asphalt" deterrent films at driver's ed class, you've seen "Kids." Just substitute teen-agers for the car wrecks. The new movie follows a small band of adolescents for one brutal day. From the opening scene of a 12-year-old girl reluctantly losing her virginity to the closing image of another girl's rape, "Kids" is a 90-minute portrait of juvenile blight.

Telly, the film's lecherous "virgin surgeon," can't wait for his next conquest, and deletes no expletive describing what he'll do to her. His lawless sidekick Casper spends his free time swilling beer, inhaling laughing gas and braining an enemy with his skateboard. The young girls, meanwhile, are either taking and failing an AIDS test or dropping hallucinogens. This film is not just 22 years from "American Graffiti." It's light years. Some people will say the movie is wild fiction.

Director Larry Clark says it's fact. "This is not about ail kids," says Clark, whose photographic essays "Tulsa" and "Teenage Lust" documented teen-age life. "But I've hung around kids and I know how they are." -Jane Pratt, the founding editor of the teen magazine Sassy and an unpaid consultant to the film's distributor, says "Kids" is more real than most parents would believe. "Yes, it's harsh and hard-hitting and difficult. I had a hard time staying in the theater at certain times," says Pratt, the coauthor of the new book "For Real: The Uncensored Truth About America's Teenagers." "Everything I found (in researching "For was completely echoed in the movie in terms of sex, in terms of drug use, in terms of the way boys and girls talk about each other," Pratt says.

"I won't say every teen-ager in this country is like the teen-agers in this movie. Certainly not." The makers of "Kids" say it is intended as a cautionary movie, a celluloid epistle warning of the dangers of unprotected sex, drug abuse and violence. Clark, for one, has a 9-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son and both should eventually watch the movie and discuss it, he says "This is a movie every parent should see," Clark says. "There are issues here that parents should talk to their kids about." For all the promotion of messages and "Kids" being an "important" film, there are bound to be critics who feel it's simply exploitive. Others could argue that just because "Kids" is "realistic" doesn't mean it must be seen: What's the value of seeing boys treat girls like dirt? "Yes, it's very provocative," says co-producer Christine Vachon.

"The story is BIT 1 JLQJUl LB Movie mirrors realities of modern teen life By Mark Torrez Yes reporter Mark Torrez, 17, a senior at Del Norte, attended an advance screening of the movie "Kids and filed this report. ON THE TOWN: A scene from the Larry Clark movie "Kids." The new movie follows a small band of adolescents for one brutal day. The direction of Larry Clark was fantastic. Blatant cuts between boys' and girls' conversations showed their different perspectives on the same issues. Ironically enough, the two were almost mirror images of one another.

Parents seeing this movie should not think all teens 1 behave in the same way as The one word that best describes the new movie "Kids," is real. Nineteen-year-old screenwriter Harmony Korine deals with the reality of modern teen life. In an age when morals are declining, the number of teens having sex and abusing drugs is on the rise. The movie acts as a looking glass into the lives of three typical inner city grunge teen-agers. Newcomer Leo Fitzpatrick stars as a sex-crazed 16-year-old with a love-'em-and-leave-'em attitude.

His whole life revolves around finding his next conquest a virgin. He knows exactly what to say to get a girl in bed. When he's finished it's "don't call me, I'll call you," never to be heard from again. "Kids" is a very powerful film. It makes you think.

The issues dealt with in this film were ones normal teens constantly face to some degree. For example: Should I have sex? Should I try drugs? Is it OK to steal? BIG SCREEN KIDS: Leo Fitz-patrick, who plays Telly, and Yakira Peguero, who plays Darcy, in a scene from "Kids." those portrayed in the film. However, they should know that such promiscuous behavior does occur and that drugs are very easily obtainable. The film is best summed up in a monologue by Telley (Fitzpatrick) at the close of the film when he says, "When you're young, not much matters." As the film ended, I was at a loss for words. I didn't know whether to be amazed or repulsed by the bona fide reality of the movie.

As I sat in my car pondering countless scenes, I began to finally appreciate the work put into this film. Being a teen-ager, this movie showed me, by example of ficticious peers, the lowest degree of our society. It helped me appreciate the value of educaion and why it is important not to head down that wayward path of vileness and immorality. clearly very, very strong and shocking in a lot of ways. But I don't think it's prurient." The Motion Picture Association of America apparently disagreed.

Citing the movie's "explicit sex, language, drug use and violence involving children," the MPAA's ratings board gave "Kids" the adults-only NC-17 mark on July 6. MPAA Chairman Jack Valenti, who has not seen the movie, said "parents in America See 'KIDS' on PAGE B4 Director hopes real kids get to see controversial film By Roger Ebert Syndicated Columnist inappropriate for audiences under 17. "It's not for ALL kids under 17," Clark said, "but it's for SOME kids under 17. 1 want people to see the movie. I want parents to go with their kids.

But the kids have to be able to get in. Because this movie shows things that are a reality in this world. It's a cautionary tale." Watching "Kids" is a fascinating and depressing experience: The movie has an unstudied authentici everybody looks at me like I'm crazy." I looked at him like he was crazy. And then I said, Well, you know, TECHNICALLY "Yeah," he said, "technically it's an movie." Because it doesn't have the specific stuff in it that allegedly qualifies it for an NC-17. "Right." But they'll probably say the whole "tone" of the movie makes it to Miramax Films, the distributor.

Although Miramax brought in high-powered lawyers to appeal the rating, it was highly unlikely, at a time when Washington has declared open season on Hollywood, that a movie of this nature could get a pass from the MPAA board. On the day after the movie played in May at the Cannes Film Festival, I was sitting on the Miramax yacht in the harbor and dis ty that convinces you it knows exactly what it's talking about. And, thinking about these kids, you realize they have no dimensions at all. No interests, no knowledge, no curiosity, beyond the daily routine of sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll and skateboards. The "hero" of the movie is a kid named Tully, played by Leo Fitzpatrick.

I told Clark I found him very unattractive. See DIRECTOR on PAGE B3 1 1 .1 cussing this developing situation with Larry Clark, the well-known photographer who had directed "Kids" as his first feature. I mentioned something about an NC-17, and he said, "See, there you go. I'm the only guy in the world that thinks this is an R-rated movie. I felt that by not showing frontal nudity or doing the other stuff that I was told make an NC-17 movie, that I've made an movie.

And when I say that here in Cannes, i One of the ironies about "Kids," the disturbing new movie about a day in the lives of some Manhattan teen-agers, is that the movie was refused an rating. That means the rating board didn't think the movie should be seen by kids the age of the characters in the movie. The threat of an NC-17 rating did not exactly come as a surprise.