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)

I've always been a fan of kids. The period in New York this film depicts and the skate culture is what initially drew me in. I know that it is a controversial film, but I always assumed that it was because of the subject matter being shown. While there is nothing lighthearted about the subject matter I was unaware of the total lack of respect and taking advantage of the kids in the film. It is heartbreaking to watch as they are left in the dust while Larry Clarke takes all the credit and money. Hamilton Hariss does an incredible job at explaining everything that has happened to these kids. If you have scene kids you should watch this as well.

I would like to know why Chloë Sevigny, Rosario Dawson, and Leo Fitzpatrick were given hall passes on their culpability in the demise and deaths of Justin Pierce and Harold Hunter?

Not only did Chloë, Rosario and Leo (the only actors/stars to emerge successful out of Kids) duck out of being interviewed for this doc, but their names are not even mentioned once. And I mean literally NO mention of them AT ALL, as if they never appeared in Kids.

Instead, the producers and director chose to focus their ire and blame strictly on Larry Clark and Harmony Korine, holding the duo over the fire for abandoning their "kids" so that they could reap all the accolades and financial fruits for themselves. And in doing so - this documentary argues - Pierce and Hunter were left all alone to flounder and eventually fail (Justin later killed himself and Harold OD'd).

I don't think anyone disagrees that Clark and Korine exploited their cast of then-unknown street urchins in order to get Kids made. And after watching this doc, you'd be hard pressed to defend (or even like) Larry Clark (Korine was equally heartless in his unscrupulous treatment of the Kids cast, but unlike Clark he's still making $$$ for Hollywood, so I think people are a bit more lenient of him as Clark's former accomplice).

But it seems grossly unfair of this doc's filmmakers to have such a blatant double-standard of blame - that Clark and Korine could have but didn't help Justin and Harold get set up in Hollywood following the success of kids - all the while categorically ignoring just how huge Chloë Sevigny and Rosario Dawson went on to become in La La Land.

Seriously, where were Chloë and Rosario when Justin Pierce and Harold Hunter were also trying to get roles? And where were they when Justin and Harold, having failed to make it in show business, fell on hard times? Sure, you could argue that Chloë and Rosario had no responsibility for them and were just looking out for themselves as they became popular in Hollywood (both actresses are now A-listers and multi-millionaires).

But then you'd need to grant Clark and Korine the exact same exemption, because they too had no obligation to help out the cast after paying them. After all, at the time Clark and Korine were just two scruffy wannabe filmmakers trying to make it in this industry. Not until years (and decades for Korine) later did they finally find some success.

In fact, if you examine and compare their respective career timelines, Chloë and Rosario were cast in big-budget Hollywood movies immediately after Kids - long before Clark or Korine found enough financing to make their second films. So who at the time really had the ability and opportunity to help out Harold and Justin?

Again I ask: why did the producers and director of "The Kids" (aka "We Were Once Kids") choose to let Chloë Sevigny, Rosario Dawson and Leo Fitzpatrick off the hook by not forcing them to face the camera and ask them the same hard questions asked of Clark and Korine? And not just let them off the hook, but completely leave them out of this doc with nary a whisper of their names? (the end of the film states in writing that Clark and Korine declined to participate; since Sevigny and Dawson also declined to participate, why doesn't it say so?).

Re-watch this documentary with all this in mind and I think their agenda/narrative will make itself more obvious to the viewer: Clark and Korine were low-hanging fruit, but to also go after Sevigny and Dawson would have risked upsetting the Hollywood powers-that-be who finance their films and have the ability to crush aspiring indie filmmakers like Eddie Martin and Hamilton Harris.

I personally think it's shameful and hypocritical, but y'know, I doubt anyone else will ever think this deep about this relatively obscure documentary...

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.