Film Review: Ken Park (2002)

Plot: The film begins with the public suicide of Ken Park at a local skateboarding park. The film features four friends: Shawn, Tate, Peaches, and Claude. It covers their interactions with their families (or lack thereof), and their friends in a dysfunctional society. The film depicts controversial topics such as sexuality, sexual experimentation, incest, teenage suicide and, to a lesser extent, murder.

The title "Ken Park" does not refer to a location, but rather to a character in the film, whose death is used as a plot device at the end of the film. Although never directly stated, Ken Park appears to be set over several days, spanning Friday to Sunday. The plot of Ken Park is non-linear, and often switches between different characters over this time period.

Review: If you have seen director Larry Clark's critically acclaimed 1995 film KIDS, then you are already familiar with his raw style, lurid atmospheres, and highly provocative content.

You ain't seen nothing yet.

From scene one and on, Larry shoves small town dysfunction, violence, and adolescent sexuality so far up your throat it gets stuck inside your mind and crawls through your thoughts hours after the ending credits climb up the black. Ken Park skates through the veins of a taboo suburban world and exposes an unyielding community full of mental instability and sexual deviation. The colorless lives of the film's characters are captured perfectly by Clark's signature use of 35mm film, which gives achromatic visuals to an achromatic upbringing.

Much like KIDS, Ken Park's characters lure you in and play with your emotions; however, one character, the sociopathic demon spawn of American Psycho's Patrick Bateman, Tate, takes the entire film and flips it on its head. Despite a great performance by James Ransone, Tate's character sucks the raw reality of the film and replaces it with splashes of over the top socio-circus shock. I can believe his character, but sense Tate was taken a little too far for the sake of shock and awe.

Visually, Larry Clark (a director and photographer that Martin Scorsese admits to being influenced by) knocks it out of the skate park, but Tate's antics mixed with vividly uncomfortable "child" pornography and unnecessary cock closeups (the pissing scene with Claude's father) take away a lot of the film's power.

Great Performances From: Wade Williams (Claude's Father), Julio Oscar Mochoso (Peaches' Father) and James Ransone (Tate).

Recommended to: KIDS fans, skaters, and people that want their eyes to bug out.

Rating: 82/100