Chloë Sevigny in Kids (1995)
Larry Clark's harrowing film Kids, shows us what happens to teenagers who are not raised properly; they steal, drink, get high, and most prominetly, engage in sexual activity. The film follows 24 hours in the doped out lives of Manhattan teens and what they do on a regular, daily basis. The main "kid" Telly (a marbled-mouth Leo Fitzpatick) has a quest to seduce and nail as many virgins as he can - without protection.
In this disturbing tale of adolesence, we find Jennie; a sweet, 16-year-old New York teen who lost her viginity to Telly last summer. A year later, on a hot summer day which starts out with girl talk, uncoils and ends in devestation for Sevigny's Jennie. We learn that out of the group of girls, Jennie is the least sexually promiscuous, and claims to have only had sex once. The other girls talk about their blooming sex lives and encounters with wild excitment to which Jennie primarily acts as a listener. One of the girls Ruby (young Rosario Dawson) has had sex with many guys, so just be sure she's healthy, she visits a health clinic to get tested, and Jennie does so to to keep Ruby company.
A week after getting tested, their results are back; Ruby is clean, but Jennie has tested positive for HIV. From here, everything is downhill for Jennie, and the shit has officially hit the fan. The film here teaches us that even having sex once can result in contracting something deadly. In these scenes, Sevigny presents something interesting about Jennie, and how she reacts to the horrible news. Instead of playing it with direct fright, fear, and anger, Sevigny witholds and underplays, letting the emotions slip through the cracks. But now she has one goal - finding Telly before he passes on the deadly virus to another innocent girl.
In a movie filled with disgusting, horrid, unlikable people, Sevigny's Jennie emerges as the films only humane character. The one person we can look at and say "I feel bad for her", without any hesitation. And this is to Sevigny's credit, as she keeps this wild contraption grounded, while maintaining a realistic grip on Jennie's broken heart. I found Kids to be a rather soulless film (it's trying to say something important but is missing that final piece) and luckily Sevigny provides the movie with a heart and a compelling, emotionally charged character.
As an actress, Sevigny is gifted with a face that radiates emotion, and a pair of eyes that tell the story. Where most actress' would have overplayed every emotion and gesture (possibly edging into melo-drama), Chloë doesn't broadly express what's happening to Jennie (mentally and emotionally), instead she lets us into the darkest parts of Jennie's psyche and soul to reveal something devestating. Cholë is absolutley vivid and precise in the role, naturalistic with glowing humanity.
Perhaps my favorite scene of hers is when she is in the back of a cab, and the driver notices that she looks rather troubled and upset. They talk of losing troubles and finding happiness, and reasures her that not everything is bad.
He even makes her smile....It's a poignant, powerful scene in which Jennie is reminded that for every dark side, their is a beaming bright side with welcoming redemption.
As day leads into night, Jennie gets closer to finding Telly and stoping this cycle once and for all. Something else that makes Jennie stand out amoung the characters is that she is the only person to really see the world that everyone lives in, for what the world really is; a dangerous frightening landscape full of nasty shocks and doomed fates.
After being force fed some drugs at a '90s teenage rave (by a nerdy Harmony Korine) while tryin to find Telly, Jennie is on her way to him but is in a worse state due to the overwhelming effect of the drug. (* The scene in the picture above, was the one scene Chloë actually thought she acted well in - she hated the rest. *)
Jennie gets to the apartment where Telly is, but its too late. He is already having sex with yet another girl, giving her the virus. Jennie walks by the encounter seeing how saying anything now just wouldn't matter now. Weak and emotionally drained, Jennie curls up on a couch, and lets what she's kept bottled in, flow out. Perhaps the most heartbreaking image in the film.
Jennie knows that everything is crumbling away. She knows that she will die, and so will that young innocent girl. She feels empty, helpless, and violated, all of which Sevigny palpably conveys with a haunting authenticity. Once Jennie is in a catatonic state, one of Telly's disgusting friends Casper, decides to have his way with Jennie by raping her. The scene - one of the most disturbing I have seen - is awful to watch. It's slow, menacing, and sick. By doing this, Casper dosn't even know that he will get the disease from Jennie, so in a sick way, its on him. That's his punishment.
Chloë Sevigny's performance put the girl on the map as one of the most promising young actress' of her time. Mixing intensity and heart with her own unique naturalistic acting style, has yet to fail Ms. Sevigny, and her debut performance in Kids just gives me more reason to love the girl.
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