This is one of those documentaries that gets passed over in the list of really noteworthy entries in the form over the past 30 years, but it's rather extraordinary. At the time, runaway kids weren't something new in the news, and homeless kids and urban strife were well known among cities like New York and Detroit and DC. But Bell took his perspective to Seattle- future of the grunge scene, which I'm sure sprung somewhat out of an atmosphere of despair such as this- and embedded himself with a collection of kids, some young as 9 and old as their early 20s, either by some harsh decision out on the streets away from their parents doing petty crimes or because they have no choice by the conditions of life with their respective parents (or lack thereof).
Its structure of moving around loosely between several people isn't anything new (I'm reminded of the loose form of Vernon, Florida only with more purpose), and there's a slight sense now in 2008 of it being like an extended episode of MTV's True Life. But it's also like the best episode of the show never made, filmed in large part in a style that can only be compared to the Maysles, who don't even seem to be in the room or setting for most of the time getting these people as they are. And when there are certain moments or scenes that feel 'staged', it's only insomuch as the kids knew they were in a movie or the director may have asked them to say what happened here or there. Not a moment feels inauthentic, not once.
And in this unsentimental but sympathetic portrait of these kids- some prostitutes like 14 year old Tiny or hard-bitten fighters Lulu or just without any home or drunk or absent or dead parents- interweaves actual stories with these kids as simple events, conversations, a dramatic bits like 'this is how we eat and shower' or 'I'm checking to see if I have an STD or am pregnant'. All of this is presented frankly enough, but it's when things are stripped away to stark truths that it becomes harrowing: 16 year-old Dewayne, who has tonsillitis and wants to go in the navy someday, visits his father in prison on a 30 year stretch, and the way the conversation goes- the way his father talks strong but lovingly- brought me to tears.
Its a very direct portrait, and it doesn't judge them like "these kids are bad because...", because there's too much to already crush the audience to get into preachiness. It is what it is, and it has many unforgettable moments, even just a bit with an old bum playing the song 'Teddy Bear's Picnic' or a "playboy" watching Star Wars while trying to fit in with drying died black hair. It's so moving that I can only really point out one minor liability- ironic since it's the reason I sought out the movie in the first place- which is a lack of Tom Waits music; one might think he scores the entire movie, but only two songs are in the film. And yet when they come up, they're approximately heartbreaking and somber in that way Waits can only do. It's a small underground classic.
Its structure of moving around loosely between several people isn't anything new (I'm reminded of the loose form of Vernon, Florida only with more purpose), and there's a slight sense now in 2008 of it being like an extended episode of MTV's True Life. But it's also like the best episode of the show never made, filmed in large part in a style that can only be compared to the Maysles, who don't even seem to be in the room or setting for most of the time getting these people as they are. And when there are certain moments or scenes that feel 'staged', it's only insomuch as the kids knew they were in a movie or the director may have asked them to say what happened here or there. Not a moment feels inauthentic, not once.
And in this unsentimental but sympathetic portrait of these kids- some prostitutes like 14 year old Tiny or hard-bitten fighters Lulu or just without any home or drunk or absent or dead parents- interweaves actual stories with these kids as simple events, conversations, a dramatic bits like 'this is how we eat and shower' or 'I'm checking to see if I have an STD or am pregnant'. All of this is presented frankly enough, but it's when things are stripped away to stark truths that it becomes harrowing: 16 year-old Dewayne, who has tonsillitis and wants to go in the navy someday, visits his father in prison on a 30 year stretch, and the way the conversation goes- the way his father talks strong but lovingly- brought me to tears.
Its a very direct portrait, and it doesn't judge them like "these kids are bad because...", because there's too much to already crush the audience to get into preachiness. It is what it is, and it has many unforgettable moments, even just a bit with an old bum playing the song 'Teddy Bear's Picnic' or a "playboy" watching Star Wars while trying to fit in with drying died black hair. It's so moving that I can only really point out one minor liability- ironic since it's the reason I sought out the movie in the first place- which is a lack of Tom Waits music; one might think he scores the entire movie, but only two songs are in the film. And yet when they come up, they're approximately heartbreaking and somber in that way Waits can only do. It's a small underground classic.