Marfa Girl

Infuriatingly undisciplined and often just plain creepy in its voyeuristic fetishism over teen sex, Marfa Girl is the latest disaster from Larry Clark, the controversial filmmaker whose 1995 Kids featured multiple scenes centering on adolescent sex. Kids had something of a unifying point: namely, the meat-market mentality of its male characters, who dehumanized girls while also endangering them (and themselves) during a time of rampant HIV. Marfa Girl, unfortunately, falls many degrees below the low standard set by Kids. Taking place in the titular tiny Texas town on the U.S.-Mexico border, the film follows the bed-hopping adventures of several young people—including the film's 16-year-old central character (Adam Mediano)—as they play music, ride skateboards, and talk about art, dogs, and therapy—all without any meaningful purpose. Clark's piecemeal approach to narrative has one redeeming element—the film's darkest and mostly whole-cloth villain, a psychopathic border guard (Jeremy St. James) with a porn habit and an urge to rape. But the filmmaker's continuing penchant for filming naked teen characters in bed from multiple angles is disturbing. Not recommended. (T. Keogh)