By all accounts, ““Kids,’’ which will be shown at Cannes in May, is an astonishing film. It follows a number of barely-pubescent-looking boys and girls around New York City as they smoke pot, bait gays, beat a black man and engage in graty brothers are ilm opens with a boy known as ““the virgin surgeon’’ hurriedly deflowering a young girl. All the movie’s sexual players are said to be actors over 18.) New York’s Village Voice has called ““Kids’’ ““a masterpiece’’; The New Yorker has suggested it’s ““nihilistic pornography.’’ But the issue here isn’t just art, but commerce. The art-movie company Miramax has paid $3.5 million to distribute ““Kids’’ worldwide. Unfortunately, Miramax is owned by the Walt Disney Co., which won’t release NC-17 movies. Clark says, ““I’m still working on the film,’’ but even if ““Kids’’ is heavily edited, there may be no hope for an R.
Miramax relishes a well-publicized ratings battle. ““Are you kidding?’’ says a source close to the film. ““This is vintage Miramax.’’ The company fought to have an NC-17 removed from ““Clerks’’ (it won, and got an R), but sold ““You So Crazy’’ to the Samuel Goldwyn Co. when it got that dreaded rating. Cynics believe that Miramax knows it can’t release ““Kids’’ – that it will whip up a controversy, then sell the film, at top dollar, to someone who can. The kids in ““Kids’’ seem pretty jaded. Wait till Hollywood gets through with them.
