The Smell of Us (2015)

Absolutely Fantastic

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I watched all Larry Clark 's movies. My favorite is Another Day in Paradise. So not much surprise when I saw this one. It was as expected. If you don't already like or know Larry's work you'd better not watch it. But note that there is not really an end : the reason is the main star Lukas Ionesco left before the end. He said in an interview that L. Clark used him and basically freaked out, fired before the end many of the kids and acted very "strangely". To the point that the mother of Lukas called Larry a pedophile in an interview. When asked about his thoughts about that Lukas admits that's too much though if he meet L. Clark again all he would have to say to him would be : F**** You... Concerning some reviews about "what a waste of money", just know that the film was funded at almost 100% by french tax payers therefore there is no need for commercial exploitation for that movie.

Nothing new from Larry Clark.The lives and times of a few young skateboarders in Paris. However, their lives consist entirely of skateboarding, getting high and having sex with strangers, sometimes for money...If you know Larry Clark's work, you'll know he generally likes making movies about young people, with a sleazy angle to it all. This was fine in Kids, which showed the emptiness of their lives, the harmful effects of their actions and how the cycle repeats itself in later generations. Bully was good too, as it had a crime- centred grittiness to it.However, everything else he has made just uses the Kids formula over and over again. Young people, being depraved.The Smell of Us certainly follows that formula, to the point that it should be called "Kids in Paris". Nothing new, and doesn't have the profundity that Kids has. It's pretty much sleaze and depravity for shock value sake. Avoid.

The Smell of Us, although sounding like a good film in its festival write up is in fact the worse and hardest things I've ever had to watch.The film is void of narrative or character development and in its place is scene after scene of vulgarity passed of as artistic.The Smell Of Us, made be questions the entire notion of film as a medium. Do yourself a favor and on the night you were planning on seeing this film, do something more enjoyable and less harmful to your psych instead, like punching yourself in the face. or sitting alone in a dark room. not only a bad film, but a bad moment in human history.

This film could be an unofficial sequel to "KIDS" not because it deals with skateboarding 'kids' but because it shows how society has changed and how the youth of the world have adjusted / adapted to these changes. Social media, normalization of pornography, drug culture, homelessness, alcoholism, prostitution. it is hard to shine a light on the world and keep everyone happy, or maybe even keep within the moral law (if a moral law even exists anymore). Mr Clark is a fearless film maker he shows the world i have seen in my youth and can see it has become. Unfortunately because the subject material can be seen as salacious some of the image of our world that it reflects maybe lost. This film is risky. This film will offend many people. This film will remind many people of their youth. This film is worth your time.