We Were Once 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.

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)

As much I otherwise enjoyed this little documentary, it is incomplete without including Chloe Sevigny and Rosario Dawson. As another reviewer here wrote, there isn't a single scene, clip, photo or even name-drop of them in this entire film. It's almost as if their lawyers and managers threatened to shut down this entire project if their likeness appeared anywhere in it.

At the end, there is a note that says Larry Clark and Harmony Korine refused to participate in this project, but obviously SO DID Chloe and Rosario, so what's your point? Leo Fitzpatrick also isn't anywhere in this, not even his name!

So how are we supposed to interpret that? Seems there is some bad blood between those "kids" who found Hollywood success after, and those who were left behind.

All in all, it's worth a watch - but anyone expecting behind-the-scenes film-making insight into the making of Kids will be disappointed. The actual production of Kids is glossed over in under 5 minutes; the rest of this doc is a hit piece against Clark and Korine and also a portrait of Justin Pierce and Harold Hunter's tragic pre- and post-Kids lives.

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.

The movie kids, tho great in many ways, is an emotionless affair. Literally characters who find out they have aids don't cry, they just kinda panic. Nobody seems to, or is depicted to, feel anything in that world.

We Were Once Kids is like the photo negative of that. It's emotionally raw, very vulnerable, pathetic even, embarrassing. And I mean all that as a compliment. Here we see young men grappling honestly with regrets, unrealized dreams, friendships, and new realities, they aren't too cool to walk us through the process of finding adult perspectives on hard childhoods, lost childhoods, opportunities - particularly one stinging reveal that was and is forever lost. Even cast wise: the side characters are the stars, the stars mostly absent.

It's a great depiction of the chance to be in the moons orbit and never getting to land there. The filmmakers are in tremendous company.