Catching Up With Larry Clark
The director weighs in on the perils of Marfa, Texas, and the legacy of free love.
Larry Clark’s first feature film was Kids back in 1995. What’s remarkable is that not only was the film nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes and an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature, but that it’s still considered a milestone in cinema today. Nominated for the Venice Golden Lion, Bully followed in 2001, examining teenagers planning to murder another who has bullied them.
Clark is known for revealing the interior angst as much as the exterior grotesque and beautiful nature of youth. His films are simple, yet complex, courageous and also utterly palpable. Ten years after Kids, Clark captures the same spirit of adolescence with Marfa Girl which opens March 27th in theaters and on VOD. Instead of the NYC backdrop, Clark moves his portrait to Marfa, Texas, where cops are crooked and sexual energy runs like whiskey.
The story sets its lens on Adam (Adam Mediano), a 16-year-old waif of a kid, who seems as aimless as the land around him. He’s our vehicle through Marfa, introducing us to pregnant teachers, naked girls and demented Border Patrol officers. The film isn’t determined in its speed or plot, but instead lets us wander alongside its subjects, thirsty and perplexed.
Paste had a chance to chat with Clark about the film while he was in France promoting his latest film, The Smell of Us. He wrote back, answering our burning questions about sex, setting the film in Marfa and the future of free love. We also asked about a particular line in the film, “If people fucked more there would be less war.” Does he believe in this theory like one of his young characters? Spending so much time with his focus on youth, we wondered where Clark stands on it all.
Paste: I’m from Dallas, so I’ve heard many stories about Marfa, although I’ve never been. People say it’s stuck in the past, sort of a few decades behind. How does this effect youth living there, specifically their views of modern relationships and intimacy?
Clark: Some of the kids are stuck (because of pressure from parents and the Catholic church), but most know how backwards and dead-end the town is and can’t wait to turn 18 so they can get the fuck out of West Texas…
Paste: How did you use the backdrop of Marfa, particularly the abandoned warehouses and rundown homes to tell your story?
Clark: I wanted to avoid filming in the Picture Postcard area and show “the real Marfa” where people live…
Paste: You stayed away from classic structure with this script. How can abiding by rules, as a writer, create problems?
Clark: Abiding by rules, as far as I’m concerned, is a Death Knell for creativity… I didn’t really have a script and worked from notes in my pocket diaries and made up the film day by day … really flying by the seat of my pants!
Paste: Without the typical point A to B format, how did you find Marfa Girl’s shape? In the editing room? On set?
Clark: On set … every film I’ve made I’m always editing the film in my head … really important to be able to visualize this…
Paste: The character of Marfa girl opens up about her father encouraging sex as a child, something that attributes to her multiple sexual experiences in the film. Is this type of free love still beneficial or is the age of free love over?
Clark: I would hope its over… We ruined this in the ’60s with all the diseases free love and the byproduct group sex caused, etc., etc. … Genital Herpes, HIV, new strains of gonorrhea penicillin doesn’t kill, Hepatitis, on and on…