neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Bully
	Larry Clark Brad Renfro, Rachel Miner, Nick Stahl, Bijou Phillips, Leo Fitzpatrick 2001 Special edition — widescreen; closed caption; Spanish, English subtitles; audio commentary by director Larry Clark; isolated music track; trailer.		Eavesdropping on a coterie of no-hope, doped-up teenage slackers as they conspire to murder one of their own, director Larry Clark returns to the potent, verité vein of his first film, "Kids." Brutal and uncomfortably intimate, "Bully" dramatizes a dismaying incident that occurred in the Hollywood, Fla., area during the mid-'90s, as documented in a book by Jim Schutze. Purposeless dropout Marty (Brad Renfro) and shy Lisa (Rachel Miner) drift into a relationship, but they're plagued by the malicious, controlling behavior of Bobby (Nick Stahl), Marty's abusive "best friend." Bobby also takes advantage of Lisa's hedonistic pal Ali (Bijou Phillips). So Lisa plots revenge on Bobby and enlists four more kids to help out. The young actors, including Leo Fitzpatrick ("Kids"), are remarkable and uniformly believable. Pay no mind to the film's disclaimer attesting to character composites and scenes that were fictionalized. Even if it was tweaked a bit, its ugliness has the unmistakable ring of truth.