 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Bully 2001 - USA - 111 min. - Feature, Color Released by -Lions Gate Films Director -Larry Clark |
| Genre/Type - Drama, Docudrama, Juvenile Delinquency Film, Psychological Drama Flags - Strong Sexual Content, Adult Situations, Adult Language, Not For Children, Nudity, Violence, Rape & Sexual Abuse From book - Bully: A True Story of High School Revenge Set In - high school, south Color type - CFI color Produced by - Blacklist / Gravity Entertainment / Muse DVD Street Date - Jan 22, 2002 Languages - English Subtitles - English, Spanish Screen Formats - Letterbox for 16x9 TVs Sound - Dolby Digital Aspect Ratio - 1.85:1 (DVD) Studio - Lions Gate Home Entertainment/Trimark Home Vi Region - 1 (USA & territories, Canada) DVD Sides - 1 Features - Widescreen feature / 5.1 Dolby Digital / Cast & Crew interviews / Trailer / Interactive menus / Scene access / Music-only track / English & Spanish Cast Brad Renfro -- Marty Puccio Rachel Miner -- Lisa Connelly Nick Stahl -- Bobby Kent Bijou Phillips -- Ali Willis Michael Pitt -- Donny Semenec Kelli Garner -- Heather Swaller Daniel Franzese -- Derek Dzvirko Leo Fitzpatrick � Hitman |
| Plot Synopsis Photographer and filmmaker Larry Clark, who made a controversial feature debut with the disturbing drama Kids, returns with another disquieting look at amoral and sexually precocious youth. Bobby (Nick Stahl) is a high school student growing up in southern Florida in the early '90s. Bobby is also a borderline psychotic; he frequently lashes out with brutal violence against those around him and especially enjoys humiliating his best friend Marty (Brad Renfro). While Bobby professes to hate and fear homosexuals, he goads Marty into performing phone sex with men, makes Marty and his friends watch hardcore gay porn films with him, and may have sexually abused Marty. But Marty is hardly the only victim of Bobby's abuse; Bobby has sexually assaulted Marty's girlfriend Lisa (Rachel Miner) and more than once has barged in on the couple while they were making love. Lisa's best friend Ali (Bijou Phillips) has also been raped by Bobby, and he has mistreated nearly everyone in their circle of friends. One night, Marty, Lisa, Ali, and several others decide Bobby's cycle of abuse must stop. But their solution is as ugly as the problem � the teens stab Bobby, slit his throat, crush his head with a baseball bat, and throw his body into the bay, where the remains will be eaten by alligators. Bully is based on a book by journalist Jim Schutze, which recounted the facts of the 1993 murder of Bobby Kent, who after years of abusing his friends and classmates, was killed by seven of his acquaintances in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. As with Kids, Larry Clark's startlingly graphic depiction of sex, violence, and drug use among teenagers crossed the boundaries of what the MPAA could permit in an R-rated film, and the picture's distributors chose to release the film without a rating. � Mark Deming, AMG |
| Reviews Jason Clark, AMG *** (3 out of 5 stars) Director Larry Clark's trademark obsession with scantily clad (or just plain naked) teenagers is fully in evidence in this raw, grainy look at a motley crew caught up in a revenge pact, and that's part of the overall problem with the film. The film seems to be both a satire on senseless teenage violence and a harsh drama centering on it, but Clark can't seem to make up his mind which should be more prevalent; therefore, the movie falls apart well before it should. Brad Renfro and Nick Stahl seem miscast as the victim and tormentor, respectively; it might have been more effective if they had switched roles to fit their natural abilities. But nothing can disguise the director's obsession with his young cast's exposed bodies, and that leering, uncomfortable aspect negates any impact of the movie's jarring frankness about other matters; the whole affair seems too exploitative to make much of a point. The film, due to its graphic content, was released unrated by its distributor, which also happened with Clark's first feature effort, the controversial 1995 film Kids. Patrick Naugle, AMGDVD Reviews Bully takes a hard-hitting look at teenagers, sex, and murder. The film is featured in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and looks very nice for its low-budget origins. This transfer appears crisp, detailed, and void of any edge enhancement or artifacting. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and is very adequate for the film it supports. While there are some instances of directional use in this mix (usually with the gangster rap soundtrack), the bulk of the track tends to come from the center and front speakers only. Also included on this disc is a music-only soundtrack, as well as subtitles in English and Spanish. The extra features on this disc start with an engaging interview with director Larry Clark that sadly lasts only around five minutes. Next up are some fairly long interviews with the young cast discussing their characters and the screenplay. "How the Actors Landed Their Roles" is a comedic interview with each cast member joking about how they slept with the director to be in the movie (which, in a roundabout way, is sort of creepy). Finally there's a picture gallery of the real people this movie is based on, and a theatrical trailer for the film |
|
 |