Una vez fuimos Kids

This is a good documentary that, unlike what typical bros from IMDB would say, is not for "the era of whine". It does talk about the entire cast, even those who someone says here are suspiciously silent, but this is not about the rest of the teenagers who were part of the cast. It's about those who had the power and basically used the life stories (AND IMAGES) of these kids, while filming them naked and using drugs. I have never been a fan of Harmony Korine, and now I dislike him even more. The creepy aura around Larry Clarke does not surprise me. This old dude talking with a teenager about another grown man wanting oral sex seems more like a way to bring that topic up. I do believe that Hamilton Harris, being the writer, wasn't able to objectively edit many of his conversations. The monotone can get a little bit tired.

It's not the best, but it's worth watching, especially for those who are unable to put themselves in the shoes of teenagers from "the wrong side of the tracks" (Of course, that's not the user base of this site)

I've not watched Kids since it was released. I was 18 and it shocked me. It shocked a lot of people. I'd not seen anything like it. No one had. What is this? Was a common question? Is this real? Was another. Whether you liked it or not, there's no denying it was fresh and thought provoking. We Were Once Kids is a documentary about the film, its cast and its production. I've wanted to see this for a while, but it's not easy to find in the U. K. In fact it's near impossible, I had to watch on DocPlay via a VPN. Kids is quintessential 90s, but as this doc explains, it's about youth born into 70/80s New York. A place to aspire escape from. That escape is skate culture, bringing people of all types together. One of the big questions of Kids was, where are the parents? These kids are wild! The truth is the parents were wilder. Drugged up or dead as crack exploded through the city. Much of this back story comes from writer Hamilton Harris, he had a smaller role in the film, but he's a big part of this documentary. Painting a vivid picture of a society that's the very definition of dysfunctional. So was it real? Yeah kinda. Some of these people were friends before the cameras rolled. More than that, they were family, replacing what was absent at home. It's fascinating to hear how organically it grew. Kids bonding over skating, weed, a simple need to have someone to hang out with. Hamilton, meets Harold Hunter, Harold introduces Harmony (Korine) a kid from out of town. Tobin Yelland is hanging around and introduces an older dude, Larry Clark into the mix. He runs a photography workshop, loves skateboards, wants to make a film. You can see where this is going. It's all a joke to begin. Larry's gonna shoot a movie, Harmony's gonna write it, we're all gonna be in it. Just a laugh right? Not everyone from the film speaks here and some like Leo Fitzpatrick who played Telly tellingly doesn't feature at all, others are referred to via archive footage alone and there's a lot of archive. Like Justin Pierce, who it's said always wanted to act, he's not interviewed as he took his own life at the age of 25, but he and Harold (who also died young) are the ringmasters, bringing kids to Larry to be cast in the film. It's weird, they know it's weird. Who's this old dude hanging around with a bunch of kids. But it's exciting for them and what else are they going to do? That is unless you're a girl. Highlyann Krasnow (great name) reads Harmony's script and clocks it for its "rape and misogyny". She wants no part, so the casting net widens. Enter people like Jon Abrahams, who talks about going with the flow, doing what Larry says, being stoned while shooting. Javier Nunez, no idea how old he was at the time but very young, smoking a load of joints then passing out. Honestly it's troubling. Most of these kids were from broken homes, vulnerable and it's clear they were taken advantage of. The shoot wraps. They watch a screener and have a party, sign some papers, except some cash. "We were left where we started from". The film goes to festivals and boom! What are these kids doing on screen? How old are they? Are they old enough? Larry Clark doesn't have the answers, because clearly some of them are not. To him, it's just a movie, but it's not is it. It feels real because so much of it is, there's no fluff, it's handheld lofi doc style screams authenticity and it connects. In America at least, audiences bond with it in the same way that those kids bonded before Larry even turned up. The fallout is intense. Some feed off it, like Harold who laps up the limelight, others feel exposed and used. Others choose to distance themselves from everyone. "I remember watching Harmony transform into a person I didn't recognise". The leads, Justin, Jon, Harold, Rosario Dawson, Chloë Sevigny, all have opportunities, it's a stepping stone. Everyone else, it's a dead weight. The movie is a hit. It makes millions. Guess who's cashing in... and who's not. It's a tragic story and very little positive comes from Kids. We Were Once Kids is enlightening, but it's not an easy watch and with that in mind, now I'm going to rewatch Kids.

I don't believe Larry Clark had a hidden agenda. He clearly was in awe of how this crew of loyal skaters were living life raw and unedited. It was after meeting and reading Harmony Korine's screenplay he felt it had potential to be a full length motion picture. So turning to his connections in the film industry such as Gus Van Sant, for example to make it happen. At this point is when i felt some of the cast got taken advantage of in terms of pay being the classic it still it to date but on the other hand $1,000 is a considerable amount for those who hardly had any screen time. I don't agree with Clark turning ghost after filming completed since it was a community of people who value friendship, loyalty and commitment from eachother. I understand life moves on for everyone but I'm sure some of the kids just felt dismissed by Larry & Harmony. But neither should be a scapegoat for anyone's failed career since half the cast are now very well established actors/actresses. This is my outsiders perspective, for what it's worth.

So after watching KIDS I was looking up Justin Pierce Because I was fairly sure I had seen him in some other movies Anyway this documentary about the movie came up So I decided to watch it (Not that it changed my opinion of KIDS) But it did make me feel bad about what the actors went through Larry Clark is a low life scum of the earth Who took advantage of street kids with little or no education It was tragic to learn of the deaths of Justin Pierce and Harold Hunter Very informative and interesting documentary I would highly recommend watching this Strictly my opinion But I think it's better than the actual movie.

I watched kids when it came out, being a kid myself, when I was 16 years old. The movie itself was kinda weird, though watching these kids was impressive. The storyline was total nonsense, evem to a 16-year-old. What was much more memorable was when my friend and me got out of the cinema, we were attacked by two kids who had riled themselves up watching the movie. Not a nice experience. Now this documentary felt to me like the missing piece to Kids. We used to skate, too, and like the actors describe it here, it was indeed our only way to be productive and not get into trouble. Obviously, living in a small town in Germany, we weren't nearly growing up in such dire conditions as them, but skating did mean that much to us, too.

It was interesting and sad to see how "Kids" impacted qnd changed these kids' lives, kimnd of destroying the feeble "community" that they had built themselves around skating. Had a much more profound effect on me that watching Kids back in the day.