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[REVIEWS
> BULLY]
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| 07/14/2001 |
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Larry
Clark has finally found the perfect project—a real-life murder
tale about beautiful middle-class white trash teens (well,
at least he made them beautiful in the film). The result is
an indie gem that's beautiful, uncompromising, irresponsible,
compelling, sexy, passionate and humanizing. Wow! What a cool
film!
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Reviewed by Quentin Lee
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| Compelling and flawlessly made, "Bully"
is indie filmmaker Larry Clark's third film, and his best
film yet. Although "Kids," his first film, is beautifully
photographed and interesting enough, it is also pretentious,
episodic and contrived. Clark's storytelling has vastly
improved in "Another Day in Paradise," but then its plot
is trite and conventional with only brief flashes of brilliance.
With "Bully," Larry Clark has finally found
the perfect project—a real-life murder tale about
beautiful middle-class white trash teens (well, at least
he made them beautiful in the film). The result is an
indie gem that's beautiful, uncompromising, irresponsible,
compelling, sexy, passionate and humanizing. Wow! What
a cool film! |
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| "Bully" is based on Jim Shutze's account
of a real-life crime in Hollywood Florida where a few
middle-class white trash teens brutally murdered one of
their friends, Bobby Kent, on July 14, 1993. |
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| Bobby (Nick Stahl) and Marty (Brad Renfro)
have been best friends since they were little. Bobby is
a violent brat, and he beats Marty up and bullies him
around whenever he pleases. There is obviously some sexual
tension between Bobby and Marty. Bobby seems obsessed
with Marty and forces him to be a go-go dancer in gay
clubs and do queer shit like that. Marty meets Lisa (Rachel
Miner), an ungainly girl whom Bobby makes fun of. Jealous
of Bobby's control over Marty, Lisa convinces Marty that
Bobby is the source of everyone's problems and that they
should kill him. So Marty and Lisa call up some of her
friends, including Ali whom Bobby has date raped once,
to kill Bobby. |
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The
Young and the Beautiful
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| Since it's a retelling of a real life crime,
you sort of know what happens before going into the movie.
The interest and curiosity lies not in the outcome of
the movie, but in its storytelling and execution. While
Jim Shutze's novel is compelling, the storytelling is
a little scattered and all over the place as a movie plot.
The film's success lies in Clark's ability to pull together
the multiple viewpoints and the scattered events and episodes
into a compelling, intense and lean narrative. While the
murder is the focus of the story, Clark also creates a
visceral and compelling portrait of these kids' lives
and their lifestyle. You do feel like being part of their
world when you're watching the movie. Or at least I felt
that way. You feel excited about the murder. You want
to get high and you want to fuck. |
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| "Bully" is also a piece of eye candy. Clark
has such a naturalistic and visceral style that slides
you right inside the kids' world. Their world is dark
and violent, yet it's also mundane, beautiful and innocent.
Clark certainly has an eye for beautiful teens. The go-go
boys in the gay club scene where Bobby asks Marty to do
go-go dancing are just hot. Another simple scene, where
the naked Lisa sits on the toilet bowl and checks her
pregnancy test, glows with beauty. All the sex scenes
are visceral and hot. While the object of pornography
is to get its viewer off regardless of beauty and aesthetics,
the object of art is to portray beauty and truth even
if the artist has to resort to pornographic means. In
that sense, Larry Clark is an artist. Art by all means
necessary. |
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Many reviews have compared "Bully" to "River's Edge"
and criticized "Bully" as being exploitative and inferior.
But such comparison is simple-minded. Thinking that they
know everything about film just because they watch them,
these gutless and moralistic critics always say that this
and that is exploitative, inferior of empty. Who are these
parasites to define what a film should do and how a film
should be made? "Bully" is a fun ride and yet it's honest
and deeply felt. It's a great independent film because
Clark made whatever the heck he wanted to make and the
end result works. That's what independent films are about:
the filmmaker makes whatever he wants to make with the
secondary hope that it will connect to an audience. I
connected to "Bully," so it works..jpg) |
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Now
in theatrical release
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Official
Website
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Distributor's
Website
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