Larry Clark’s Kids and the
tsunami of decadence that follows a pubescent cast acting unabashedly on their
basest urges hasn’t gotten any easier to watch since premiering in 1995.
Encompassing the sexual depravity, “Telly’s” HIV positive pursuit of any virgin
he can bed practically smothers the viewer and demands whether such a mindset
actually prevailed amongst the Washington Square Skateboarding scene it was
based.
Hamilton Harris, who hailed directly from
the whirlwind and the film, allays the long smoldering anxiety. “It’s
completely overblown,” he says by Skype from Holland and plans to release The
Kids next summer to give voice to the real polymer wheeled occupants
of the iconic arches.
“You never hear it from the people
at the core of the story,” he says.
In turn, the untold story Mr. Harris unfolds
stays the course and steers away from the external controversies. “I come at
this from an angle of growth and healing, and how skateboarding was used as a
tool to evolve,” he says. “That’s what the world needs to know.”
Displacing the salacious fictions that
attracted so much attention, Mr. Harris assures that skateboards still
necessitated usage well beyond their horizontal plane. “You got New York City
in the early 90s. The crack era, the height of cocaine, the murder rate, racial
tensions – there’s quite a lot to heal from,” he says.
Life at home – regardless of ethnicity - also
presented problems and the skateboarding bond again served as elixir. “It
wasn’t just black kids whose moms and dads were all crack smoking and dope
using. You know what I’m saying. That s… was everywhere, and we all got the
same things in common. But we also skate and skating was like our antidote,”
says Mr. Harris.
He’s living proof. “If I didn’t have that. I’d
be the typical poor ‘African American’ who grew up in the housing projects.
Doing what they are still doing today,” he says, “I’d be dead.”
But the sheer thrill and ability of busting a
can is still something he marvels at. “It had its purpose in dealing with the
psychic and emotional traumas, but I also had incredible focus and balance,” he
says.
Not to dismiss that it was usually under the
influence, Harris remembers how Tobin Yelland’s photography proved a revelation
for Clark. “Who are these dudes, I need to meet these guys,” Mr. Harris relays
Clark’s “epiphany.”
Thus immersing himself, Clark tabbed Harris,
Leo Fitzpatrick and Justin Pierce, among others, from Washington Square to roll
out his vision. And the unknowns jumped at it. “You have the opportunity to be
in a movie, it was a great experience,” says Mr. Harris.
So the script a stretch, the hurt feelings
that possibly followed didn’t trump signatures on the dotted line, according to
Mr. Harris. “That’s a choice,” he says.
Still, Harris understands that not everyone
involved let it roll off their sleeves so easily, but he hopes The Kids puts
them in a pensive mindset that facilitates moving on. “I did this for whatever
reason, and now X amount of time later, I can reflect on it. I’m here now, and
my life revolves in this direction. That’s what I hope people get in the end,”
he says.
The same goes for those that didn’t make
it into the film or deferred but were stigmatized by Clark’s interpretation.
The young women, depicted by the likes of Chloe Sevigny and Rosario
Dawson, were particularly vocal. “The girls it was based on that we used
to hang out with was like F… that. That’s not how I am,” he remembers.
For himself, he wasn’t all together happy that
he was always rolling the joint with no explanation of its use as a coping
mechanism for the chaos.
Even so, Mr. Harris is able to attribute Kids
to the filmmaker’s vision, and the inspiration it’s derived from. “Tulsa and
Teenage Lust – that’s Larry’s life,” he says of Clark’s hometown and
autobiography.
As for the criticism likening Kids to child
pornography, Harris doesn’t hesitate to question all those lined up to shoot
the messenger. “Who’s anyone to judge an experience,” he asserts.
20 years later, Harris marvels at how the true
nature of Washington Square Park can be found in Clark’s subtext - regardless
of the window dressing. “Yeah, there was the image to the five senses, but
there was something behind that you pick up on. Larry caught that s… on film,”
he says.
But The Kids isn’t about
capturing a time or freezing a moment. “I was told the only way out is
through,” he says.
Going through the racism, the poverty, drugs,
self-doubt and abandonment was something he knows that put him here today.
“I’ve chosen to take responsibility for all those experiences, and I’m grateful
or I wouldn’t be able to tell this story,” he concludes.
No comments:
Post a Comment