Kids
KIDS／キッズ
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
One summer day of Manhattan teenagers, HIV, and a boy who sexually abuses young girls; rated NC-17, it was released unrated through a one-off company.
One summer day in Manhattan in the middle of the Aids epidemic. The film opens on Telly, a scrawny sixteen-year-old, sexually abusing a twelve-year-old girl he has won over with lies, in a home with no adults in it. Afterwards he boasts to his best friend, Casper, that he only goes after virgins. The two shoplift, drift to a friend's flat where the boys trade brags about sex without condoms and one insists there is no such thing as HIV, steal money from Telly's mother, buy marijuana and hang around Washington Square Park, where they taunt a gay couple. When a man shoves Casper after a collision, the gang beat him unconscious.
Across the city a group of girls talk about sex very differently. Two of them, Ruby and Jennie, have just been tested for HIV. Ruby, who has had several partners, is negative. Jennie, who has had sex once, with Telly, is positive. She spends the rest of the day looking for him, to stop him infecting anyone else. A taxi driver tries to cheer her up; at a club a boy pushes a pill into her mouth, and she goes on, drifting in and out of consciousness.
Telly has chosen his next target: Darcy, the thirteen-year-old sister of an acquaintance. The boys pick her up, sneak into a public pool after dark and move on to an unsupervised party at a friend's house, where Telly takes Darcy into the parents' bedroom.
Jennie arrives too late. She finds Telly sexually abusing Darcy and, numb from the drug, turns away without stepping in, and Darcy is exposed to the virus. Jennie cries and passes out among the other guests. In the morning Casper, still drunk, rapes her while she is unconscious, exposing himself to HIV. Over images of the city, Telly's voice says that sex is the only thing in his life worth anything. Casper wakes on the couch and asks, 'Jesus Christ, what happened?'
Starring
Leo Fitzpatrickas Telly
A sixteen-year-old in Manhattan who preys on younger girls who are virgins, not knowing he is carrying HIV.
Telly’s story
The film opens as Telly, sixteen, sexually abuses a twelve-year-old girl he has talked round with lies, in a home with no adults in it; afterwards he boasts about it to his best friend, Casper. Through one summer day he shoplifts, trades boasts about sex without condoms at a friend's flat, steals money from his own mother, buys marijuana and taunts a gay couple in Washington Square Park, all the while setting up his next target: Darcy, the thirteen-year-old sister of an acquaintance. That night, at an unsupervised party, he leads her into the parents' bedroom and sexually abuses her, exposing her to the virus. Jennie has spent the day trying to reach him first. Over the last images of the city, his voice says that sex is the only thing in his life worth anything.
Justin Pierceas Casper
Telly's best friend, who drinks, steals and fights his way through the day, and at dawn rapes the unconscious Jennie.
Casper’s story
Casper starts the day at Telly's side with a shoplifted bottle of malt liquor and two peaches stolen from a street vendor. He gets high at a friend's flat, helps steal money from Telly's mother and skates through Washington Square Park, where, when a man shoves him after a collision, his friends set on the man and Casper delivers the blow that knocks him unconscious. At the party that night he is drunk, singing nonsense, and he tells Jennie where Telly is. In the morning, still drunk, he rapes Jennie while she is unconscious, exposing himself to the virus she carries. He wakes on the couch and asks, 'Jesus Christ, what happened?'
Chloë Sevignyas Jennie
A girl who learns she is HIV-positive after her only encounter, with Telly, and spends the day trying to find him.
Jennie’s story
Jennie's only partner has been Telly. She goes with her friend Ruby for an HIV test, and while Ruby, with several partners behind her, is negative, Jennie is positive. She spends the rest of the day crossing the city to find Telly before he infects another girl. A taxi driver tries to cheer her up. At a club a boy pushes a pill into her mouth, and she goes on, drifting in and out of consciousness, to the party where Telly is. She opens the bedroom door on him sexually abusing Darcy and, numb from the drug, turns away without stepping in. She cries and passes out among the other guests. In the morning Casper rapes her while she is unconscious.
Rosario Dawsonas Ruby
Jennie's friend, who goes with her for the test and is told she is negative.
Why it matters
Kids follows teenagers through one day in Manhattan during the Aids epidemic, with adults almost absent, and it refuses to explain itself. What it shows is plain: a boy who treats the abuse of young girls as conquest, friends who laugh at condoms and deny that HIV exists, a virus moving through one circle in a single day, and a rape its perpetrator will not remember. The MPAA rated it NC-17; Miramax, then owned by Disney, could not release a film with that rating, so its co-chairmen set up a one-off company and released it unrated. Critics were divided. Roger Ebert called it a film that needs to be talked about afterwards; bell hooks found in it a conservative take on gender, race and the politics of HIV. The question it leaves is who was supposed to be looking after these children.