This is a film about relationships. My congratulations to the people responsible for making this film because I've never seen anything remotely like it. Not even "Kids". Shocking, gripping, honest, mature, in-your-face. "Ken Park" is the first film made that takes us into the world of American families to show us what really goes on. Life is not all sweet and charming even though we might wish it to be. Movies don't have to be sappy and happy. There don't have to be car chases and killings, cops and good-guys and bad-guys. To those viewers raised on soap operas and "Friends", turn away because you won't find this film funny.
A shocker for sure...banned in most countries tells you a lot about it. When I see that it makes me WANT to see it. The sex is totally credible. You don't have actors grabbing for sheets or towels to cover up their bodies--hey just like real life!! The scenes are tense, the technical side perfect. You are going to be exposed to some troubled people and they're not only kids. Adults are having a hell of a time getting through life too. Some want a lot more than the 2 point 3 kids and a white picket-fence house in the 'burbs. They long for illicit sex. But look for more, you'll find it in this film. These are characters disturbed by life and not able to function, exactly like your friends and co-workers and neighbors. Lots of people stumble through life and don't have a clue how to behave, how to be loving or tender. Relationships with some people are constant conflicts which they don't even understand themselves. This film shows us some. The sad part is most people don't even realize how screwed up their lives are.
I'm not going to review the plot. You just have to see it yourself and form your own views. Because films have to be seen---that's the art form. I'd also like to congratulate and thank everyone involved in this production for having the courage to give us something worthwhile. In the 1930's there was a film movement called surrealism which was designed to shock people. It did, but today we don't get much shock value out of those old films. "Ken Park" isn't surreal, but it really does shock...maybe it's "hyper-realism". So real you feel totally nervous, never knowing what you are going to see next. All the green-screen and digital video effects dished out by Hollywood can't compare to the plain, good, unselfconscious acting and direction. Every character gets my "Oscar" and the direction and camera-work are so incredible they defy description. Whoever wrote the script knows how to write. Kids aren't as verbal as a lot of movies make them out to be. That lack of dialogue is what always distinguishes a great film for me. I'm not a big fan of voice- over to make plot points, but this film is so outstanding in so many ways the short bits of narration do not diminish it. Great work all around but if you grew up on "Disney" forget it.
A shocker for sure...banned in most countries tells you a lot about it. When I see that it makes me WANT to see it. The sex is totally credible. You don't have actors grabbing for sheets or towels to cover up their bodies--hey just like real life!! The scenes are tense, the technical side perfect. You are going to be exposed to some troubled people and they're not only kids. Adults are having a hell of a time getting through life too. Some want a lot more than the 2 point 3 kids and a white picket-fence house in the 'burbs. They long for illicit sex. But look for more, you'll find it in this film. These are characters disturbed by life and not able to function, exactly like your friends and co-workers and neighbors. Lots of people stumble through life and don't have a clue how to behave, how to be loving or tender. Relationships with some people are constant conflicts which they don't even understand themselves. This film shows us some. The sad part is most people don't even realize how screwed up their lives are.
I'm not going to review the plot. You just have to see it yourself and form your own views. Because films have to be seen---that's the art form. I'd also like to congratulate and thank everyone involved in this production for having the courage to give us something worthwhile. In the 1930's there was a film movement called surrealism which was designed to shock people. It did, but today we don't get much shock value out of those old films. "Ken Park" isn't surreal, but it really does shock...maybe it's "hyper-realism". So real you feel totally nervous, never knowing what you are going to see next. All the green-screen and digital video effects dished out by Hollywood can't compare to the plain, good, unselfconscious acting and direction. Every character gets my "Oscar" and the direction and camera-work are so incredible they defy description. Whoever wrote the script knows how to write. Kids aren't as verbal as a lot of movies make them out to be. That lack of dialogue is what always distinguishes a great film for me. I'm not a big fan of voice- over to make plot points, but this film is so outstanding in so many ways the short bits of narration do not diminish it. Great work all around but if you grew up on "Disney" forget it.