Marfa Girl

It might be difficult to think of a town more depressing than Marfa, but that is the portrayal. A place that has nothing, and offers even less. Where there is really nothing to do, and a smart student seems to know more than a teacher. There are several border patrol agents, and one is very easy to dislike. To say he is disgusting is an understatement. Locals call him a coconut; dark on the outside, and white on the inside. It turns out his father was extremely abusive, so he grew up needing the pain. But as one said, being a border patrol agent is about the only job one can get other than at a drive in. It is easy to understand what major topics of the teenagers are, and the movie covers a lot of that. Drugs like weed are an escape. One could say the film wanders around aimlessly often without a point. But is that not the reality of the lives portrayed?

After our mind blowing experiences with Bully and Ken Park I was expecting something much better than Marfa Girl could deliver. It seems that Larry Clark has taken the old 20th. Century criticisms of Ken Park to heart and toned down his productions to a level of mechanized banality. And the result simply doesn't work.

The central characters are a community of Spanish Americans living somewhere in the deep south west who are driven to a point of madness by the mindless tedium of their existence. Adam is 16 and hangs around with a group of talentless drop out musicians and artists who spend their days drug taking, fornicating and banging instruments. The local policeman is a psycho maniac who gets turned on by pain whilst Adam's mother searches for cosmic vibes with pet birds and sound mediums.

So far so good. But I'm afraid that's all there is. The plot is virtually non existent, the acting is labored and the dialog is almost incoherent. Of course, as with all Larry Clark films, the cast were all able to shed their clothes and copulate in front of the crew. We are treated to six young male naked backsides pounding up and down so convincingly that I doubt it was simulated. Larry Clark certainly had a good time watching their convulsions but this time he doesn't share it with the audience. Unlike Ken Park there is no shocking full on ejaculation to trade mark the production with crystal realism. In fact there isn't even an erect male full frontal to express the degradation of it all. All such visible stirrings are this time kept firmly within the lad's boxer shorts. So Larry Clark has finally descended into Hollywoodesque coyness with all the well ploughed banality and tedium that oh so common genre forces upon us. Yawn.

Well there is one scene/segment in the movie that could easily be called that. It may be even called that in the scene selection - it would make sense. Apart from that, if you know Larry Clarke you know what to expect. Nudity, intercourse, swearing, violence and general drama.

Families are torn apart, but there is a lot of talking, a lot of social criticism. If you are into that, this can be enjoyable. Much of what is said, is supposed to shock though and if you are not bigotted, it may just seem obvious. Now it may sound a bit weird that a man of Clarkes age is still doing movies about the youth and the discovery of sexuality. You'll either find this refreshing or weird. Whatever the case you know what to expect

Eh. Kinda interesting. Some good writing. Some good scenes. Some interesting. Some not so interesting. Classic Larry Clark themes done well.

It's clear this movie basically does what it wants - which is fine by me. But y'know, that doesn't always makes for the best film or sometimes it does. The acting in places is very naturalistic, in others forced but overall it creates a good feel for the town and it's people. I guess this is what it was going for so well done.

I don't think this has the lasting impression KEN PARK had on me but it has graphic sex, teenagers talking about sex, skateboarding, smoking weed. Who am I to complain? Clark, at this point, just makes art and I just watched it. It feels stupid even rating it or writing this review.

Well done LC keep up the good work.

Back in the late 90s and early 2000's Larry Clark came out with some movie that ventured between good and great, but no matter the quality they were always at least interesting. Kids was spectacular and Bully for all it's leering overkill was at least an interesting study of youth gone horribly horribly wrong. Here we have Marfa Girl a loose assortment of sex scene as directionless as it's teen protagonist tied only very loosely together by a shoe-horned in generic evil white guy sex fiend. Even this thin subplot doesn't quite hang together, let alone support the surrounding sex scenes. No character in this movie is even remotely likable. Everyone comes off as shallow and following a set of directives unnatural to human interaction. The movie even starts on a dud. Clark has always been about using non-actors in his movies and usually it works out well, or at least well enough. At the beginning of the movie is a contrived scene with a teacher who's line readings are so bad you wonder if there's an off camera man with a gun pointed at her. What follows is an aimless 100 minutes in which even the sight of naked girls becomes tedious. With a mid movie break to hear the idiotic philosophies of the titular Marfa Girl. Can a person be that stupid? Can people pass the age of 14 really believe such utopian garbage? Nobody with half a brain should take this moron seriously. Then there is the aforementioned generic evil white man with a secret. Why is it that movies never seem to find that cliche or sterotype tiresome. I think I have an answer. Larry Clark really just needs to admit to himself that he would like to direct pornographic movies starring the youngest actors and actresses the law will allow and never waste our time pretending he's a director with anything to say about anything.