KEN PARK
Mark R. Leeper
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Not the most uplifting film I have ever
seen. From the director of KIDS comes another
story, or set of stories, of teens growing up in
a permissive society without direction or values.
The film is fascinating, but sort of like watching
a road accident. Rating: 5 (0 to 10), high 0
(-4 to +4)
From co-directors and co-cinematographers Larry Clark, the
director of KIDS, and novice director Ed Lachman comes a film
like KIDS set in a more suburban setting. KEN PARK is pretty
nihilistic stuff. It is a view of sixteen-year-olds (or about
that) growing with no values beyond hedonism. It is also very
frank and explicit stuff.
The film takes place in the suburban town of Visalia, California
and follows four friends, Shawn, Claude, Peaches, and Tate.
Shawn (James Bullard) has been seduced by his girlfriend's
attractive mother. She uses him as a sex toy and he enjoys
comparing sex with mother and daughter. Claude (Stephen Jasso)
is bullied and accused of being gay by his bully of a father.
Peaches (Tiffany Limos) is kept on what seems like a short leash
by her Christian fundamentalist father, but she still manages a
very active sex life. Tate (James Ransone) is just weird. He
is being raised by grandparents whom he makes no secret of
loathing by cussing them out explicitly to their faces. The
fifth musketeer is the title character Ken Park who shoots
himself through the head in the first sequence of the film.
Supposedly everything that happens in KEN PARK is taken from a
true incidents. However, this appears to be a sort of High
School Sodom concentrate. The director, who presented the film
at the Toronto Festival was quick to say that all the actors
engaging in sex were over eighteen, but they look younger and
the film is very explicit. Very, very explicit. Many of the
actors in the film are first-time performers whom the directors
found in a skateboard park in Visalia. And were naturals before
the camera.
There could be said to be three or four story threads. One
could question whether they are really stories since they do not
necessarily conclude. Each is more a portrait or a situation.
The threads are not particularly good as narratives. Even if
the stories are all based on real incidents their density, all
happening at the same time to small group of friends, seems
unlikely. Three or four stories reach a climax in one night.
They include murder, incest, pederasty, and a couple things not
in my thesaurus. Not all films based on true incidents are
necessarily realistic. If this is a realistic portrait of youth
today we are all in trouble.
Whether this film has any real message or is just an exercise in
bleak nihilism leavened with teenage pornography is a moot
point. The film is intended to shock and drew mostly a younger
audience anxious to be shocked. I rate KEN PARK a 5 on the 0 to
10 scale and a high 0 on the -4 to +4 scale. Whether or not KEN
PARK is pornographic is a question not of the facts but of
interpretation. The film features not simply nudity but male
masturbation, cunilingus, and urination. Cheers.
Mark R. Leeper
mle...@optonline.net
Copyright 2002 Mark R. Leeper