I want to start this review by saying that I am not a Larry Clark fan. I find his debut (and best known film)
Kids off-putting, grossly taboo, and without much merit outside of its inherent shock value.
Wassup Rockers seemed to desperately strive to make a point, but never fully realized its potential.
Bully, however is a different beast altogether. Its content is very reminiscent of
Kids on the surface. Lots of teenagers having sex and doing drugs as they drift aimlessly in and out of each others' lives. But where
Kids relies on the "jaw-drop factor",
Bully tells a story. A twisted, disturbing, often sickening story- but a story no less.
Bully is, at its core, a story of friendship, torment, and revenge. It tells the story of Bobby (Nick Stahl) and Marty (Brad Renfro), best friends since grade school who are now drifting through their late teens in an endless cycle of debauchery. Bobby is the titular bully, but not in the way you may think. He assaults Marty on a regular basis as well as subjecting him to humiliating, degrading acts of sexual deviance, many times involving homosexual schemes in which Bobby sees monetary gains. One particularly vomit-inducing scene sees a 50-something, presumably gay man offer Bobby $100 if Marty will get onstage at a club and dance around half-naked while patrons stuff dollar bills into his underwear. Did I mention Marty is not gay? Marty actually meets and courts another wasteland-teen, Lisa (Rachel Miner) throughout the course of the film. Perhaps the most chilling aspect of Bobby is that we are told, through a series of conversations with his over-bearing father, that Bobby has a future. He will soon be heading to college in hopes of partnering with said father in a tinting/car stereo business. Bobby sexually assaults both Marty and Lisa at least once that we see, as well as raping Lisa's friend, Heather (Kelli Garner) whilst insisting she proclaim he is "the best I've ever had". Not exactly child-friendly fare. This abuse continues until one day Lisa suggests to Marty, in a heart-breakingly vulnerable scene, that the pair kill Bobby. The couple drag other acquaintances into the plot including Derek (Daniel Franzese) and Donny (Michael Pitt). When they finally decide they'll need some help they approach supposed mob "hitman", Hitman (Leo Fitzpatrick) to join the party. We then see the ill-conceived plot carried out by the group under the guise that Heather was "into" her sexual encounter with Bobby. As Bobby is lured to the beach, the others skirmishly prepare themselves for the murder, using pipes, knives, and all assortment of blunt objects. The rest of the film studies the almost-immediate unraveling of the individual group members through boasting, gloating, and general teenage loud-mouthiness.
Bully succeeds where
Kids fails. This can be credited largely to the far superior cast of young actors at play in the former. As Marty, Brad Renfro is as honest, vulnerable, and lost as any teen portrayed on film. In the aforementioned scene in which he breaks down to the point of tears whilst talking with Lisa, it is hard to remember that this is a movie. Every impulse is to reach through the screen and comfort Marty- tell him everything will be okay. Lie to him. As Bobby, Nick Stahl becomes one of the most ruthless, despicable villains of the 90's. His blatant disregard for life, dignity, and friendship becomes so real that until the actual gruesome murder, we come to wish his ill fate upon him. In addition to the power-house performances at the center of the film, early performances from Michael Pitt, and Rachel Miner are also a treat. Pitt playing the acid-loving, almost retarded boytoy of Heather, and Miner playing the sympathetic if not innocent girlfriend.
One crucial detail about
Bully is that it is all based on true events that occured in the same region of Florida as the movie was filmed. For this reason, Clark is the perfect choice to helm the project. This story would lose most of its power in different hands. As I said before, Clark is not my favorite filmmaker. But one thing is undeniably true about him: he isn't afraid to "go there".
Bully requires that we, as an audience, feel absolute disgust toward Bobby. At one point in the movie we see him look at himself in the mirror and spit on his reflection. As the audience, this is wonderful release. We get to see Bobby do what we have all been wanting to. As hard as it is at times to watch, we need to see the sexual assault, we need to see the ruthless beatings, in a word, we need to see the bully.
The film is not without its faults. Criticisms of Clark being "exploitative" and "perverted" are often hurled around. Critics claim that he is more interested in his own sick attraction toward sexually active teens than toward telling a story that holds any sort of meaning. I believe this fully in the case of
Kids. I believe it partially in
Bully. While the unspeakable acts Bobby commits need to be seen to be fully realized, the detail and length which Clark dedicates to the acts teeters on exploitation. The script also meanders in places. On the whole I would say that about 20-25% of the scenes in the first half of the film should have been left on the cutting room floor as they do not drive the narrative forward in any way. They serve only to shock.
The end result? Despite its flaws,
Bully is a movie that effectively tells the story of what happens when the perenially bullied, become the savage bullies. Thanks to the surprisingly capable direction of Larry Clark, and his cast of future-stars,
Bully becomes more than a film you watch and forget. it becomes a lingering disturbance int he back of your head. And maybe that is what we all need to prevent tragedies like that which is portrayed in
Bully.
Rating- 8/10
