Recently Watched
Although I’ve seen a few films that I wouldn’t recommend, these two are certainly worthwhile:
Kids directed by Larry Clark — I first saw this when I was sixteen. Needless to say, 
I never got it. I was too young to understand the point, the message of the film. However, watching it now, ten years later, it hits me hard. This movie is historical, whether you appreciate it or not. It speaks honestly of our generation, of children growing into teenagers, growing into adults. I think it’s easy for some to ignore the harsh reality in which we live — we can get HIV, we are not invincible. Wikipedia says that Larry Clark is known for casting first-time actors in his work. Indeed, this was the theatrical debut for the four main characters — all of whom went on to become professionals: Rosario Dawson is Ruby (no introduction needed, but if I must: The 25th Hour, Rent, Sin City etc. You know her…she’s hot. ‘Nuff said); Chloë Sevigny is Jennie (professional model, also in Broken Flowers, Zodiac and currently Big Love); Leo Fitzpatrick is the notorious Telly (Fitzpatrick hasn’t done much, but he has made appearances on Law and Order and Carnivàle); Justin Pierce is Casper. Pierce had the potential to be a Hollywood success case, just like his co-stars Dawson and Sevigny. In 2000, he was discovered dead in a Las Vegas hotel room — he had hung himself. The dark nature of the film was only emphasized after Pierce’ suicide. I cannot separate Casper, the character, from Pierce, the person. Overall, Kids is truly haunting.
Grizzly Man directed by Werner Herzog — Herzog is a German filmmaker who has worked on the production of nearly 60 films. 
With Grizzly Man, Herzog explores the world of Timothy Treadwell, an enthusiast of the dangerous brown grizzly bear. Treadwell lived among grizzlies for thirteen summers in Alaska, filming over 100 hours worth of their interactions. He befriended them, gave them names and observed as a peaceful protector. The film is a splicing of this footage, accompanied by Herzog’s narrative. As an audience, we see the progressive demise of Treadwell’s desire to interact with human society. Instead, Treadwell retreats further and further into his life among the wild. By the end of the film, Herzog exposes us to various takes Treadwell did in order to wrap up his last season in Alaska. In these scenes, Treadwell is furious — he felt targeted by the National Park Service, he felt misunderstood. Days after he filmed these last scenes, he was attacked and killed by an angry grizzly. The movie is reminiscent of Into the Wild or John Muir, but the footage is real. Herzog honors this reality and the man behind it.
12 responses so far
I havent thought about the movie kids for a long time…
Crazy movie.
KIDS is so good and yet so, so sad.
Kids really is a great movie. I remember that it shocked the hell out of me, when I saw it first (I must have been around 12-14 years old or so).
Grizzly Man sounds good. Will see, if I can find that.
ha. Kids. wow. I remember watching that in 7th grade, in the back of my middle school’s library. there was a group of 6 of us, and we were both horrified and fascinated by the movie, especially the opening scene where Telly convinces the girl to lose her virginity to him. the librarian kept coming back to see what all the noise was about (we were only supposed to watch educational movies at the library!)…we somehow got away with it.
Aww, look at that little fox in the photo! I love foxes. My dog Opie kind of reminds me of one.
I still think about Kids every once in a while. It’s a good movie but one that haunts me as well.
Thanks for the Netflix recs … as if I don’t have a long enough queue already! hahah.
I watched Kids in high school and it scared the ever loving shit out of me. It was probably pivotal in encouraging me how important safe sex is.
Oh, and I do love me some Herzog!
http://www.sfreporter.com/cms/story/detail/ursa_major/2981/
Grizzly Man was an extremely interesting piece - though I didn’t feel sympathy towards Timothy Treadwell - he had good intentions but was completely overboard and had a false sense of reality in dealing with the bears. If he truly wanted to document and protect the bears - interacting with them and making them accustomed to human interaction is NOT going to beneficial in any way.
Narm, I completely agree with you — the Treadwell story is an interesting one, but clearly questionable. He had convinced himself he was their “protector.” It seems to be a bit of a contradiction. Herzog’s documentary is worthwhile. He presents more than one view of Treadwell’s character — the interviews with locals who supported him, juxtaposed with interviews of those who didn’t understand him at all. Either way, our sympathy is not necessarily what Treadwell deserves. Respect? Well, that’s another story.
As shallow as this sounds, I can’t get past Rosario Dawson’s mustache. There’s something about her that irks. I adore Chloe and she can do no wrong in my eyes - I can find redeeming qualities in her performance in Brown Bunny….Grizzly Man is hysteterical and so sad at the same time.