A lot of people give seem to give Larry Clark all the props for directing this film, but I think that it really boils down to the script, written by Harmony Korine (dir. of Gummo). Kids is an unabashed look into the lives of a group of teenagers and pre-teens during their everyday lives in the city. It’s summer time, the weather is hot, and kids all over town are bored, so what should we do? Consume copious amounts of drugs and alcohol, of course.

The pinnacle of this story concerns a teen named Telly; a boy who has a craving for having sex, primarily with virgins, since, “Nobody has the power to do that ever again.” Little does he know that he somehow, along the way, contracted the HIV (positive) virus, and thus spreading it all over town. We know right from the get-go that one unfortunate girl has been infected, followed by two more females before the end of the film, but Telly seems like a sex machine full of empty promises so it’s impossible to tell how many girls he must have fucked. Those poor girls, their first time engaging in a sexual experience leaves them scarred for life.

The rise of HIV in the nineties and young adolescents having intercourse is only some of the themes Harmony Korine touches upon. As we travel across town and to certain people’s apartments we dabble with drug abuse, teen pregnancy, date rape, homophobia, violence, and many other things that wold make your parents squirm. The kids are foul-mouthed, but as someone who was too young to understand what they were doing, but old enough to remember them and what they were doing, this film sort of resonates with me, in a nostalgic way.