'Kids': The History of the 1990s' Most Controversial Film (2024)

It was the summer of 1995. Bill Clinton was president, Rudy Giuliani was mayor of New York, and OJ Simpson was on trial. That summer’s youth-oriented movies included Pixar’s first movie Toy Story, the Disney musical Pocahontas — and Kids, in which wayward, stoned teens f*ck each other senseless and head-stomp random strangers.

Related: 100 Greatest Movies of the ’90s

It might be hard to remember just how notorious Larry Clark’s indie-skater odyssey was. The movie grossed a modest $7 million at the box office that summer — a wild success when you account for the fact that it seemed no one would be able to sell a single ticket without going to jail. There were threats of child obscenity. There were accusations of p*rnography. There was a crippling MPAA rating of NC-17 (it was eventually released unrated). In-between updates on Johnny Cochrane and Kato Kaelin, it was fodder for outraged reports on CNN. And somehow it never seemed like much ado about nothing. Kids felt dangerous. Two decades later, it still does.

From the beginning, this Grimm fairy tale for the doom generation came with a great story, the one about the legendary photographer who met a 19 year-old skateboarder and told the unvarnished truth of what it’s like to be a teenager in the city. But it was actually more like a dozen stories converging around this film, along with one of the greatest gathering of amateurs in film history. It was the 52 year-old Clark’s first movie. It was Harmony Korine‘s first anything. Chloe Sevigny had previously been a shopgirl; Rosario Dawson had previously been in junior high. Some of the actors became stars. Others went back to the streets. Some, like Spirit Award winner Justin Pierce and skate legend Harold Hunter, are no longer here at all.

The following is a narrative woven together from interviews with nine of the most prominent players in the Kids story, conducted over the past month in person, by phone, by email, and with elements added from the author’s public discussion after a 20th anniversary reunion screening at Brooklyn’s BAMcinemafest. We would warn you about the explicit language and content to follow, but f*ck that. This is Kids. You know what you’re getting into.