Then a curious thing happens. Casper pauses casually, in plain view of passersby on a street corner, to urinate. That is not what is strange. What is strange is that Telly chooses to stand around the corner from his friend, to lend him privacy. If you study this body language, you realize that these kids live entirely in a world of their own. Other people - adults - simply do not exist.

Larry Clark's "Kids" is a movie about their world. It follows a group of teenage boys and girls through one day and night during which they travel Manhattan on skateboards and subway trains, have sex, drink, use drugs, talk, party, and crash in a familiar stupor, before starting all over again the next day. The movie seesthis culture in such flat, unblinking detail that it feels like a documentary; it knows what it's talking about.

Telly, played by Leo Fitzpatrick, at least has an interest in life: sex. His face is a scary study in self-absorption as he tells girls lies they should laugh at. Being stupid, naive or simply curious, they listen to him.

"What if I get pregnant," asks a girl, who looks about 14.

"If you - - - - me, you don't have to worry about that," Telly tells her.

"Why not?" "Because I love you. Because I think you're beautiful." She believes him. Minutes later, his mission accomplished, he's back on the street with Casper, explaining his philosophy about virgins: "Say you die tomorrow. Fifty years from now, she'll still remember you." It is a good thing he cannot hear the talk among some of the girls in the movie, who cannot even remember losing their virginity.

Clark has published several famous books of gritty photography. In his first movie, he adopts a similar approach, shooting on location in the streets, placing his characters in their world. What is interesting is that you can hardly even see Manhattan in this movie; the camera, like the characters, sees only this sad youth culture. What is not human and between 12 and 17 essentially does not exist.

The casting of Leo Fitzpatrick as Telly has a lot to do with the film's powerful effect. This is the kind of kid who gives parents nightmares. He is essentially a very effective sex machine, plowing through fields of naive, underage girls. What makes him unforgettable is his voice, which is crude and grating; everything he says sounds unwholesome. Nor is he much to look at. What do the girls see in him? The answer to their curiosity about sex, I guess.