Bully is on HBO Max

Great film. Nick Stahl, Brad Renfro and Rachel Miner are great in their roles. Larry Clark peaked with this film. He released shit after this. Brad had a horrible drug addiction but he was special and would have had a long career if sober. Such a natural actor.

I'm kind of amazed at what a good movie it is. Brad Renfro is very good.

Larry Clark isn't usually a good director. He's a photographer who likes to sexualize young twinks. Kids was only good because Harmony Korine wrote it and basically directed it. Bully though was strengthened by the fact Clark had real actors like Renfro and Stahl who carried it despite both being strung out.

I really love it especially Nick Stahl. Bijou Phillips plays a skank masterfully.

I was a first yr college student when this was released so I managed to miss this clusterfuck when it was a new movie. It's as disturbing as Kids, but manages to feel even more exploitative. But how was that sub-plotline of latent homosexuality just plopped in and pulled out with zero explanation? Was that a gratuity for production? Or did it actually relate to the real case.

A film like this is never going to get made again. Everyone in the cast (minus parents) were portrayed as animated meat.

I went to school with a girl who wound up orchestrated a rape/murder of a minor having sex with her white trash husband. They women were younger than the men, but the stories have too many similarities.

Not yet, but I believe it’s on my list.

I’ve been wanting to watch it forever.

^orchestrating

And they all managed to keep their guilt in check. It was the bragging several years after that wound up biting them in the ass.

Very disturbing film. Great performances, but hard to watch.

[quote] Was that a gratuity for production? Or did it actually relate to the real case.

It related to the case.

Thanks R9. Do you know of any specifics (two hours ago I discovered the movie so I haven't had a chance to check out the book, and Wikipedia just cited them making (as production) some sex videos with a random older guy and a dildo, (can't help but think of Bob, an older figure drawing model I'd had eons ago).

Saw it so long ago and remember it vividly.

Very disturbing. Stays with you.

It’s been awhile since I read the book r7 so I can’t recall the details other than both kids liked to beat up men they thought were gay as well as bait and blackmail them—I im not positive about the last part. There was more too, but I really can’t remember the specifics compared to what happened in the movie. Definitely read the book if the case interests you. It’s not badly written.

I just finished this last night, OP

I liked it a lot. It captured the nihilism and impulsivity of the group well. Rachel Miner was perfect as Lisa Connelly

Now I'm off to watch the American Justice episode on the case

Also, I didn't realize Lisa Connelly had been released

[quote] Larry Clark isn't usually a good director. He's a photographer who likes to sexualize young twinks.

How compelling! What a bold artistic vision!

Watched it when it came out.

Great ending

I liked this movie a lot. It's a news to me that Harmony Korine possibly directed it. It was so much better than Kids that I am not very surprised. I remember being impressed with Nick Stahl. What an incredible talent he was. And seriously, it's insane Singer was canceled only couple of years ago. He should've been jail for what he did with Brad Renfro. Another tortured talent, gone too soon after shitty life.

I remember ending and especially murder scene being insanely powerful.

I'm surprised Lisa Connelly was released while Marty Puccio was not. To me, they seemed equally culpable.

R18, you misunderstood. Harmony Korine had nothing to do with Bully.

Marty did the stabbing though. Lisa did not.

That scene where Nick Stahl is naked in the bathroom with his dad was so weird to me.

Jesus Brad Renfro was hot.

Nick stahl is great in everything

Nick Stahl showed his bush and ass, very hot

I think it’s Larry Clark’s best movie if I’m being honest. Dark, nasty, and good performances from everyone. Kelli Garner in particular always stuck with me—great acting.

True, r21, but she orchestrated it

I saw this for the first time in high school and Nick Stahl’s thick bush awakened something in me.

R20

Yeah, I misread the post. Anyway, I listened podcast with Larry Clark about making of this movie. He was rather critical of Bijou Phillips. He sounded so gross and full of himself.

Also I just realized that almost all young actors in this movie ended up with tortured lives. Nick Stahl, my favorite, was a hardcore drug addict. Brad Renfro was molested by Synger and possibly others, and died of drug overdose. Bijou Phillips is married to serial rapist, possibly was molested by her father. Rachel Miner has serious health issues. Michael Pitt ruined his career and recently had very public breakdown.

r29 I thought ​ Bijou Phillips was great in it

I just read Bijou Philip’s wiki as spurred by this thread. Woof. She’s lived a crazy life. Didn’t know she was married to Danny Masterson still. I also forgot that Daniel Franzese accused her of making his life a living hell on this set.

R31, so did I. Larry Clark also thought she was good in the film, but he credited himself for that. He said Bijou was "crazy as a bug" when he was on Bret Easton Ellis's podcast in 2016.

Larry said Bijou was fucking producers all over town, which he found disgusting, but by casting her (an "it girl" at the time) he was able to get financing for the film.

I also think that Bijou was very good in this film. Her reaction during the murder scene was very powerful. Clark gave himself credit for her good acting in his movie and mocked other producers and directors who hired her because of his movie and ended up with terrible actress. He is not very modest, as you can see. I think I read something about her being uncomfortable with some of the scenes in the movie. I remember very sleazy and completely unnecessary shot of her crotch. Larry is a huge pervert, no doubts about it.

Bijou's clothed crotch or not, that scene at the beginning, about three minutes into the movie, after Lisa (Rachel Miner) and Allie (Bijou) meet the boys at a Publix sub station, and then Bijou says to Lisa as they're leaving "nah, his buddy's already got dibs on me. His buddy's the boss."—that was a genius line delivery that you cannot manufacture in an edit. I've watched Bijou in other films, and I have always been disappointed, but she is great in Bully. Everyone else is, too (except Daniel Franzese).

Courtney Love said (I think on Howard Stern 2002?) that Bijou performing live with a guitar was fucking amazing but when she gets into a studio "it all goes to shit."