Ken Park poster & wallpaper
Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

James Ransome, Tiffany Limos, Stephen Jasso, James Bullard, Mike Apaletegui ... see more see more... , Adam Chubbuck , Wade Andrew Williams , Amanda Plummer , Maeve Quinlan , Julio Oscar Mechoso , Bill Fagerbakke , Harrison Young , Patricia Place

Filmmaker Larry Clark reunites with Kids screenwriter Harmony Korine, with some additional directorial assistance from cinematographer Ed Lachman, for this look at a group of troubled teens and their ... read more read more...guardians living in Southern California. The film opens at a skate park, where a troubled character takes his own life; it then proceeds to chronicle the somewhat-interrelated lives of his classmates. The audience is introduced to Tate (James Ransome), a young man living in relative misery with his board-game-playing grandparents. Also tormented by his living situation is Claude (Stephen Jasso), a quiet, shy teen constantly henpecked by his brutish father (Wade Andrew Williams). Meanwhile, the vapid Shawn (James Bullard) occasionally trades verbal spars with his mother, in between leaving the house for sex sessions with his girlfriend's mom. Finally there is Peaches (Tiffany Limos), living alone with her devoutly religious father as she covertly experiments with her boyfriend (Mike Apaletegui). Though Ken Park played at such festivals as Toronto and Telluride in the fall of 2002, it would languish on the shelf for months and months afterward, as its explicit content made finding a U.S. distributor near-impossible. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

Flixster Users

56% liked it

8,711 ratings

Critics

43% liked it

14 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 36 min.

Directed by: Edward Lachman, Larry Clark

Release Date: August 31, 2002

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: November 10, 2003

Stats: 835 reviews

report incorrect info

Photos

Ken Park Adam Chubbuck as Ken Park
Upload a Photo | View All Ken Park Photos

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (835)

  • theunknownhobo
    September 22, 2011
    theunknownhobo
    I suppose I am just destined to never understand why people find Larry Clark so goddamn interesting! After enduring Kids and sifting through Bully, I heard about Ken Park and my friend assured me that Clark rights the wrongs of the previous films with this one. Again it was compl... read moreetely over the top and made little or no real statements about youth or its culture. Granted its not as gratuitous as his other movies, but in fairness that just made it blander to the pallet. Clark films just remind me of a very badly put together soap opera in which everyone is sleeping with everyone, and who they aren't sleeping with they're either beating or stabbing. A very overrated filmaker in my opinion that never fails to disappoint and indeed bore me.
  • briandeguelle
    April 13, 2009
    briandeguelle
    its a very hard and raw film to either like or hate.But if u seen larry clarks other film then u know what ur getting here.
    Very graphic sex sence and brutal moments of rage are on the cards here so not for the wreak stomach.Cant say i recommened it because of the subject matter... read more it holds and its will not be to everyone taste.But if u seen Kids or Bully then you kinder no what your in for..
  • arashxak
    July 27, 2008
    arashxak
    It sure has some disturbing & disgusting scenes but unlike Kids this manages to make a few points imo
  • creepfreak
    May 17, 2008
    creepfreak
    Sick ass film to the extreme. I am not kidding. This is a another hard film to get a hold of, but if you can try to find it. This is another Larry Clark film, the director of "Kids", and it's also his most deranged film yet. Vile and depressing. I feel guilty even owning this mov... read moreie(you can find a few of copies of this online), but I bought mine at a horror convention. I don't even know if I should really recommend this one, but for those of you who can stomach it, go and see this now! No matter how sick it is this is still a very good movie. A very realistic and very honest film. The only reason why I didn't give this a higher rating is because this movie makes me feel too depressed and it ruins my day whenever I watch it.

    "Ken Park focuses on several teenagers and their tormented home lives. Shawn seems to be the most conventional. Tate is brimming with psychotic rage; Claude is habitually harassed by his brutish father and coddled, rather uncomfortably, by his enormously pregnant mother. Peaches looks after her devoutly religious father, but yearns for freedom. They're all rather tight, or so they claim. But they spend precious little time together and none of them seems to know much about one another's family lives. This bizarre dichotomy underscores their alienation # the result of suburban ennui, a teenager's inherent sense of melodrama, and the disturbing nature of their home environments."


    OTHER REVIEWS:

    "Explicit sex (and I mean explicit, like triple-X explicit), masturbation, and near-incest are all on the menu."
    - eFilmCritic.com

    "...[Larry Clark's] most audacious film to date."
    - Monsters At Play

    "...scenes of graphic onanism, oral gratification, and ritualistic violence."
    - All Movie Guide

    "Thoroughly vile!"
    - reelingreviews.com

    "Makes "Happiness" look like Dumbo."
    - Film Freak Central

    "...leaves the viewer stunned - stuck between laughter and disgust, horror and compassion, not knowing what we should feel or what we are."
    - Plume-Noire

    "Everything is graphic. Very graphic. Perhaps, at times, too graphic."
    - movie-views.com

    "...this is well beyond what we're used to seeing within the realms of conventional cinema."
    - DVDTimes

    "...Clark has made a maniacal, demented, sexual, violent film that might cause a few hundred catholic riots..."
    - Ain't It Cool News


    lol...Good stuff! See this movie and judge for yourself. Let me know what you think.

    Photobucket
  • fb100000458003440
    November 13, 2011
    fb100000458003440
    Filmmaker and pedophile Larry Clark really made something deep with this one. The overall message is about how we never really know what's going on in another person's life, but then there's also so much being said in each side story. Ken Park is unapologetically brutal. It's rea... read morelism is what makes it so disturbing. Kids may be Clark's best movie, but this one will definitely make you think the most.
  • michaelcorleone
    January 10, 2010
    michaelcorleone
    Conceptually, this film has a lot going for it. I don't despise it because there are enough moments where the appealing trademarks of Harmony Korine and Larry Clark are visible. Its aims are questionable, without a doubt, and the degree of its graphic depictions is unnecessary in... read more my opinion. I have no problem with explicit material, but I have to feel that it's there for some sort of purpose. Ken Park suffers from too many miscalculations and uneven scenes, and the result is a film that feels gratuitous and vile at times. Having said that, it is beautifully shot and there are individual scenes that play out wonderfully. The introduction is superb as well, and most of the actors do fairly well considering the bizarreness and ambiguity of the screenplay. Overall it fails to capture the hypnotism and visceral power of Clark's previous feature, Bully.
  • shitfaced8
    April 15, 2010
    shitfaced8
    Larry Clark is kind of a one trick pony. All three of his movies that I have seen (Kids, Bully and Ken Park) deal with very similar themes, namely dysfunction amongst teenagers. They all feature graphic sex and drug abuse and often feature violence as well. While his films are no... read moret easy to watch I do think that there is truth in them and there for hold merit for their social, realistic themes, even if I wouldn't recommend them as passive entertainment. Between the three aforementioned movies however I felt that this one was the most effective. Possibly just because I can relate to the enviroment these character's grow up in, if not their attitudes, actions or experiences.

    It begins with a normal looking teenager skating the town whilst poppy skate punk play's in the background. He arrives at a skatepark, pulls a camera out of his bag, positions it towards his face, pulls out a gun, smiles and blow's his brains out for no apparent reason. A narrator chimes in explaining that this kids name was Ken Park (Krap Nek backwards) but gives no explanation as to why he had just commited suicide. We are then introduced to 4 character's, and follow them throguh their four seperate lives in their dreary suburban neighborhood. They do drugs, skate, have sex and are either smothered or harassed by their parents. I will not get into the details of what they do or have done to them as that is not why I am writing this.

    It becomes abundantly clear pretty early on that life in the suburbs is not as peaceful and easy going as it is often cracked up to be. The film is a shocking examination of suburban dysfunction, isolation and boredom. By the end you get some insight into why Ken Park might have shot himself. Larry Clark never attempts to condone or condemn what happens in this film, he just show's it for what it is. I think this is why a lot of people are made uncomfortable by his films. If you want to see a movie that tell's you what you should be feeling or thinking I would advise you to look elsewhere. If you are looking for a film that champions your own puritan, middle class worldview I again would advise you to look elsewhere. If you are looking for a film that holds no punches and show's dysfunction for what it is, then I would recommend this film. Just be warned this film features graphic sex and nudity, in several scene's and is not for the feint of heart.
  • John2223
    January 26, 2009
    John2223
    "Ken Park" is a sad story of teenagers and their dysfunctional families. Most of the characters have sick and abnormal behaviors. All are fully developed and living and breathing up on the screen.
  • MightySparks
    January 24, 2009
    MightySparks
    K, so I heard this was supposedly disturbing which is why I acquired it. Oddly enough, I decided to watch it today, while still in the middle of my Prison Break spree (mid of season 3 woot) and so was surprised that Bellick was in it, but now I have images of Bellick peeing and I... read more'll never be able to watch Prison Break the same again LOL.

    Anyway, I didn't find it disturbing at all. I generally don't like any sex or nudity in movies because it's stupid, but this film was pretty much all about sex and nudity. Although it was plotless and like I said, was just full of sex and nudity, somehow I didn't mind it. Um... so yeah, I don't really have much else to say about it, other than don't watch it if you get scared by naked people.
  • silentbob66
    May 9, 2007
    silentbob66
    another great movie by larry clark that should have been released in the us much sooner

View All Ken Park Reviews

Critic Reviews

Michael Rechtshaffen
October 2, 2002
Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter

A ragingly controversial feature that makes it very tricky to distinguish between insightful and incite-ful.

Cole Smithey
September 28, 2010
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com

Larry Clark's cinema has, if nothing else, very specifically delineated the line drawn by the American court's decency standards under the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act (generally ref... Full Review

Rob Gonsalves
August 4, 2007
Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com

Here, finally, Clark takes the skankiness out of teen sex, making it into a romantic idyll. Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson
May 26, 2006
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

Because the filmmakers cook up an equal number of touching sequences to match their disturbing ones, their portrait of disturbed America comes through clearly and effectively. Full Review

Dragan Antulov
October 6, 2005
Dragan Antulov, Draxblog Movie Reviews

well-shot, but it is the only good thing that could be said about KEN PARK Full Review

Norm Schrager
October 27, 2003
Norm Schrager, Filmcritic.com

Ken Park leads viewers, fans, and detractors to wonder, "What the hell is this guy doing?" Full Review

Laura Clifford
August 30, 2003
Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews

Thoroughly vile!...It galls me to think that other nations might believe this is what American youth is really like Full Review

Pablo Villaca
August 24, 2003
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena

Pornografia infantil disfarçada de "arte".

Ryan Cracknell
August 10, 2003
Ryan Cracknell, Movie Views

This is a movie that lends a voice to a good chunk of the youth population. It's a voice that just wants to be heard. Is that too much to ask? Full Review

Ed Gonzalez
July 30, 2003
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine

Less a film than a moment in time--at least that's what Ken Park's dreamy bookends would have you believe. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Cast

More Like This

Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Kids
    Kids (86%)
  • Sweet Sixteen
    Sweet Sixteen (100%)
  • Trainspotting
    Trainspotting (36%)
  • Happiness
    Happiness (44%)

More Movies like Ken Park

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

Ken Park : Watch Free on TV

Ken Park Trivia

  • What did Shaun used to tease Ken Park about that Shaun feels bad for in the beginning of the movie 'Ken Park'?  Answer »
  • In Larry Clark's movie 'Ken Park', what womens sport was Tate masturbating to?  Answer »
  • Which Actor Was: -Augustus Gibbons In xXx -Ken Carter In Coach Carter -Lucius Best/Frozone In The Incredibles -Rufus In Kill Bill: Vol. 2 -Ray Arnold In Jurassic Park   Answer »
  • What word does Tate's(James Ransone's) grandpa try to use while playing scrabble in the movie Ken Park?  Answer »
More Ken Park Trivia

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Ken Park. Want to create one?

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

Add Ken Park to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?