Uncle Scoopy's Fun House

I'm sitting here thinking that I don't really know what to say about this movie. On the one hand, I want to say nothing. On the other hand, I want to write a book about it. Maybe that is the story.

Ken Park is the latest film from Larry Clark, the Oklahoman who had already established a controversial body of photographic work when he decided late in life to make his still photographs move. He was 52 years old when he took up filmmaking. His subject matter is ... well, I think the title of one of his books of photographs says it all: "Teenage Lust". His entire life seems to be devoted to cataloguing the sexual urges and escapades of adolescents. His filmmaking career seems to combine that interest with a need to keep pushing the outside of the "decency" envelope, to test what can be shown by the camera in the storytelling process.

For better or worse, we live with conventions, and we assume that they will be followed. We assume that when people go into the bedroom in a film, that we will see nothing more than some romantic, inexplicit coupling accompanied by syrupy music. Mr Clark is not one to follow the conventions. Some of his earlier films had been more explicit than people expect from movies about teenagers, but Ken Park goes all the way. It never pulls the camera away. If there is oral sex going on, we see genitals being licked and swallowed. If there is masturbation, we see it in real time, complete with erect penises and dripping fluids. If someone goes to the bathroom, we see the penis and the stream emerging from it. Larry Clark knows he is courting controversy with this level of candor, and he seems to relish it.

The thematic material is no less disturbing than the explicit visuals. The film forms a loose tapestry from the stories of four teenagers in Visalia, California who know each other. Each of them has a relationship with the adult world that most of us would call abnormal.

As you might imagine, the film has already left behind a trail of controversy. The Office of Film and Literature Classification in Australia refused to classify it, so it is currently banned for screening in Australia. Last week (July 3rd, 2003) an imported DVD was projected at the Melbourne Town Hall but the exhibition was shut down after a raid by the Police.

Mr. Clark says his movie is not pornographic, but that he's just being honest and revealing events that happen in real life. He says all of the characters are based on real teens who have modeled for him over the years.

Clark's films always have a limited story line. One reason is that he tries to create a cinema verite feel, a sense that we are watching real people in real time, and that they don't know they are being filmed. If the plot were highly contrived, it would detract from the sense of "reality". Another reason for the minimal story is that when one shows sex, masturbation and urination in real time, it doesn't leave much time for plot development. Those activities take up a lot of screen time without moving the characters forward. In terms of storyline, this film will never be mistaken for The Man Who Would Be King, but it manages to develop at least some kind of a forward movement. It ends the film with a threesome between the three main characters who are still alive and free. In one sense, the threesome is unexpected, since we have not previously been aware that the characters are intimate and have not seen them together at all, but in a larger sense, the threesome represents a their refuge from the abnormality of their family lives. The tone of that scene is unlike that of the rest of the movie. This coupling is loving, and the talk is gentle and harmonious. These characters find with each other a degree of peace they can't achieve with their families.

We don't know if the final scene is actually happening. Maybe, maybe not. In a sense, it simply represents the time when one generation breaks away from the previous one and tries to build its own sense of cultural values. The sweetness and mutual acceptance in this scene represents a ray of hope in their otherwise doomed lives.

Clark has not only taken explicitness to new levels, but has also refined his production values over the years. The look of "Kids" is primitive, and "Teenage Caveman" is virtually at a home movie level. That is not true with Ken Park. Although the cinema verite feel is still present, Clark hired a true professional to be his D.P. and co-director. Here are some of the films in which Ed Lachman has been the cinematographer.

There are some mighty well photographed films on that list, and some pretty famous names sat in the director's chairs. Two of those films were directed by Stephen Soderbergh, one by Paul Shrader, one by Todd Haymes. There are some brilliantly photographed films on that list, including a deserved Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography (Far From Heaven). That should give you an idea that Larry Clark is not only making more explicit films, but also more professional films. Not only is there more to see than in his earlier works, but you can actually see it, and it looks good.

Is it a good movie? Well, now, that's complicated. Who the hell can give you an unbiased answer to that question? Clark's explicitness and cinema verite technique not only breaks ground, but also causes a lot of obfuscation. People tend to talk about the explicitness of the content, and not the quality. People tend to fume about the disjointed nature of cinema verite without trying to determine if it produces an impact upon the audience that can't be achieved by an artificial storyline.

You won't find me much more objective than most people, but my bias is different from most people's. I just get bored with body parts. Porn movies, for example, bore the bejeezus out of me. I don't have any objection at all to explicit sexual portrayals, but I think that they slow down the film too much when presented in real time, and I'm not convinced that the real time concept adds value. Take for example, the scene where the kid is masturbating while choking himself. Is there any value to watching this for several minutes that could not be achieved in a couple of seconds? After all, masturbation is just a hand going up and down. Do we need to see every stroke?

Bottom line, I think that Clark is evolving a technique which may some day result in a very powerful piece of cinema. He has demonstrated the ability to create strong moments. I'm still not convinced he has put enough moments together in one place to make a really good film. I liked Bully better than Ken Park. In Bully Clark managed to find a way to keep his unique "eavesdropping" grittiness, while adding form, structure, and cohesion. He was working from authentic source material based on a true story, and he hired some additional screenwriters to flesh out the story and characters.

Well let's see. He brought in writers to work on Bully, and a cinematographer to work on Ken Park. I wonder what would happen if he tried doing both in the same movie. Jeez, he might be on to something there.

I suppose this movie is a C-. It has some merit, but it's pretty damned tedious and doesn't have much content besides coupling and sex talk. Let's face it, if they created an airline version, it would barely fill up the flight from Miami to Ft Lauderdale. Merit aside, it will be widely praised and widely disparaged. Some people will praise it excessively simply because other people will condemn it and censor it, ala the works of D.H. Lawrence. Who knows, future generations may see Clark as a cinema pioneer that way we look back upon Lawrence as a literary pioneer.

I've been a member for years now and I must say you have the best website available. I saw something the other day and thought it might be a good idea to post on your site. Jessica Simpson had "the making of" her latest video - The Sweetest Sin and there are a lot of pokies and maybe a little see-thru on it and was wondering if you or someone else could cap it. Thank you,

Scoop's response: I think we can help...check out today's section of 'caps by Cambo.

Got a name for ya here. The girl in the Rascal Flatts video, I Melt, is Christina Auria. Apparently she is a model or actress or something. Perhaps some of the other guys can find some stuff on her. I will upload to you anything I manage to find!

Gentleman George

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Yo, Scoop

Found these pictures on usenet and put them together. It is Gloria Velez flashing breasts in the video of Oochie Walley

Scoop's response: Geez, I'm old. I don't know who Velez is, and I don't know who or what an Oochie Walley is. Isn't that what Jay and Silent Bob call doobies? Or maybe it's what the Dalai Lama said to Bill Murray in Caddyshack. I have to update my musical knowledge. I'm still thinking that Perry Como is too avant-garde.

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What follows is a review of Bounty Huntress: Undercover, which I rented on DVD from Hollywood Video, when I noted it was Rated R for Nudity.

First, some comments. I had recently rented Bounty Huntress 2 also on DVD (I forget the Subtitle on that one). Now, the "2" implied it was a sequel, even though I had never heard of it. When I found Undercover, I said "Ah ha", here's the first one. Well, not only are they not related, and have none of the same characters or actors, but the actress on the DVD cover and shown in the intro stills when the DVD
plays (a definite Lara Croft clone - complete with big boobs, short tube top, short shorts and long legs, pistol holster and grenades) is nowhere to be seen.

The IMDB has a Beautiful Bounty aka Bounty Huntress, but it definitely isn't this one, so there may be another one. While I'm complaining, why is it called Bounty Huntress? There is no such character in the movie, or even a reference to her. There is a female police detective, that sort of goes undercover, with her male partner and lover, in a brothel. But she's on the public payroll. "Born to seduce. Trained to kill" according to the cover, but she does neither in this movie.

The Madame of the Brothel they are staking out is played by Chloe Nichole, who is actually a good choice. For one thing, she looks just a little older (30-something) so you can believe she has been in the business long enough to start her own house. The female detective (Bounty Huntress) is played by Nicole Hilbig, and if that sounds like a foreign name, it is. She speaks English with an accent, almost like
she memorized the lines without understanding them. It almost reminds me of someone who is totally deaf that learns to speak, without hearing what they sound like. She is sexy without being beautiful, again, not a bad match for the part.

Other crap archives. May also include newer material than the ones above, since it's sorta in real time.