Like "Kids," Clark makes good use of imagery. Bobby is on his way to college and looks to work with his father in their own business, which strangely enough, Marty takes up as a part time job. Most of these kids work low-paying jobs at fast food restaurants and live off of handouts from their ignorant parents. In fact, their actions aren't motivated so much by revenge, as it is jealousy. He may be a closet homosexual (he has an obsession with gay porn he takes Marty to a gay bar and forces him to dance on stage while the patrons stuff dollar bills into his pants and his violent actions towards Marty and Lisa could be his way of dealing with those repressed desires) and he is a sociopath who may have been pushed to these limits by his tough, but loving father.īut look at the bigger picture: they're not killing him for the fact that he could be a homosexual Bobby's murder is even more terrible for the simple reason there is no clear warrant for it. There is no question that Bobby is perhaps one of the most loathsome characters ever depicted on film. He's just a bully, and a rapist to boot, who does the deed for the cheap thrill of it. If there's one thing these kids agree on, it's that Bobby deserves to die. The cast is perfect not a single terrible performance. Larry Clark even journeyed to the actual Florida suburb where the murder took place and the members of the film's young cast even take the names of those that were involved. The film, which is based on an actual murder that took place in 1993 in Florida, is quite authentic. If there is one thing that people can agree on about "Bully," it's that it is frighteningly accurate and true to life. No question that these teenagers get what comes to them in the end, and the build-up to that moment is quite intense. From that moment on, Marty, Rachel, and several others embark on a path that is littered with boasting, lying, and guilt-ridden feelings about what they're about to do. So they call upon the "Hitman" (Leo Fitzpatrick) to help with the dastardly deed. Rachel sees and quickly grows tired of Bobby's constant humiliation of his "best friend" and suggests to Marty that one way to deal with Bobby is to kill him. Marty befriends and eventually impregnates his new girlfriend Lisa (Rachel Miner). He's dropped out of high school and is constantly picked on by Bobby. Marty is your average teenage surfer-bum. The story centers on Marty (Brad Renfro) and his subliminally sadomasochistic relationship with his so-called "best friend" since they were kids, Bobby (Nick Stahl). With this film, Clark's direction certainly seems a lot more focused, polished, and has much more outside appeal than "Kids." No doubt "Bully" will provoke outrage and controversy those feelings are warranted, as they allow for intelligent discussion about the characters and events in the film. It might appear that "Bully" could possibly be a darker continuation of his 1995 outing "Kids," which also focused on endangered youth, but I think the questions at this film's core run deeper. They have sex almost on a constant basis, drink, smoke pot, drop acid, and have reckless, meaningless lives. The teenagers viewed at the center of Larry Clark's "Bully" seem, at least to me, to really have nothing going for them. This is a story of middle- upper class kids, kids like your sons and daughters. I think the fact is some people cannot stomach the idea of these kids being real, so they blame the director for not interpreting the story correctly. These kids were also not poor white trash, as their parents were very wealthy, and they drove nice cars. The bully was bi-sexual and would force his best friend to have sex with him after he had raped his girlfriend. From what my mother says, if you were to make a movie about them accurately, it would have to be close to 75% sex. They had no future, no regrets, didn't go to school and yes, they had sex with each other a lot. This sex/drug filled movie is a spot-on represenation of these kid's sad life. She was sequestered for over a month and was told every piece of information about these two teenagers and their friends. I watched the movie, and read the book, and I have another reference source- my mother was a juror for the court case State of Florida Vs. It seems that the reviews of this movie are rather bleak because people say that the director focused too much on sex and that this was not a realistic picture for teens. Reviewed by psemmes N/A I'd like to clear up some misconceptions about this movie
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