Kids (1995)

Kids is a 1995 drama film written by Harmony Korine and directed by Larry Clark. The film features Chloë Sevigny, Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, Harold Hunter, and Rosario Dawson, all of them in their debut performances. The film is centered on a day in the life of a group of sexually active teenagers in New York City and their unrestrained behavior towards sex and substance abuse (alcohol and other drugs) during the era of HIV in the mid-1990s. Kids created considerable controversy upon its release in 1995, and caused much public debate over its artistic merit, even receiving an NC-17 rating from the MPAA. It was later released without a rating.

17-year-old Telly (Leo Fitzpatrick) and an unnamed 12-year-old girl (Sarah Henderson) are kissing. Telly convinces the girl, who is a virgin, to have sex with him. Afterwards, he meets his friend, Casper (Justin Pierce). Telly tells Casper about his sexual experience in graphic terms. They go inside a local store, and Casper shoplifts a bottle of malt liquor as Telly distracts the cashier. They then steal a peach, using the same set-up just outside the store from a sidewalk display. Looking for drugs and food, they head to their friend Paul's apartment, though they express dislike of him on the way there. They arrive at Paul's house, talk about sex and smoke marijuana while watching a skate video (Video Days) (Casper inhales nitrous oxide out of balloons, which Telly considers dangerous). The scene intercuts with a group of girls, among them Ruby (Rosario Dawson) and Jenny (Chloë Sevigny), talking about sex and smoke--each gender contradicting what the other gender says, especially about oral sex. Ruby and Jenny mention that they were recently tested for STDs at Ruby's request. Ruby's test is negative, though she has had multiple sexual encounters, many of them unprotected. Jenny tests positive for HIV. She says she has had sex only once, with Telly. Jenny spends the rest of the film trying to find Telly, who has taken to only having sex with virgins on the premise that he cannot get STDs this way. Telly and Casper walk to Telly's house and steal money from Telly's mother. They go to Washington Square Park and buy a 'dime bag' of marijuana from a Rastafarian. They then meet up with a few friends, one of whom gives a blunt-rolling tutorial, to talk and smoke. After taunting a homosexual couple, Casper rides on a skateboard and carelessly bumps into a man (Ellsworth 'Cisco' Davis), who furiously threatens him. He pushes Casper, but is struck in the back of the head with a skateboard by Harold (Harold Hunter), a friend of Telly and Casper's, causing him to collapse. A number of other skaters join in, beating, stomping, and hitting the man with their skateboards until he is unconscious. While discussing whether or not they killed the man at the park, Telly and some of the group from the park pick up a 13-year-old girl named Darcy (Yakira Peguero). She is the younger sister of an acquaintance and Telly wants to have sex with her because she is a virgin. He convinces her to go with them to a pool. The other girls engage in pseudo-lesbian kissing and flirtation, but Darcy is restrained, though not shocked by the others' behavior. Telly and the group go to the house of another friend, Steven, to smoke, drink and talk about sex. Meanwhile, Jenny goes to a rave club called NASA trying to find Telly. She runs into 'Fidget' (Harmony Korine), who gives her a pill: which he refers to as 'a euphoric blockbuster drug that is supposed to make 'special K' look weak'. It turns out to be a depressant (a downer). She eventually finds out that Telly is at what has become a party at Steven's house. Jenny arrives at the party to discover Telly having sex with Darcy, thus exposing her to HIV. Exhausted by her ordeal and with the drugs still affecting her, Jenny passes out on a couch among the other sleeping party-goers. A drunken Casper proceeds to rape Jenny as she sleeps, unknowingly exposing himself to HIV as well. The film ends with a soliloquy by Telly about how without sex he would have nothing to live for, as well as a poignant look at several early-morning junkies in the streets of New York. The final scene features a naked Casper looking at the camera and saying 'Jesus Christ, what happened?'