“The Smell Of Us” is the new movie by Larry Clark made in Paris during summer 2013, which came out in French cinemas on 14 January 2015. 

The influential photographer and filmmaker, 72, obviously best known for the film “Kids“ and his photography books seems to stay forever young - just as the song says. “The Smell Of Us” is a story centered around a group of self-destructive young skateboarders in Paris; kind of the French version of “Kids“ with drugs, sex, violence and philosophical/streetsmart talks. The main difference here is that the adults interfere with the underage characters with more or less outrageous methods. As usual, some of the images - and general vibe - are rather explicit in nature.

To write the movie, Clark partnered with French poet and scriptwriter S.C.R.I.B.E. who helped him to introduce the Paris’ skateboard microcosm. He added contemporary issues to the movie: the incapacity to communicate in an world filled with networks and electronic devices, in order to emphasize what people lose by not interacting in the physical world.  Unlike past generations, these kids don’t have anything to rebel against.

To follow the rocky production (some actors were just picked up in the street), Arte Creative, from the French-German TV channel, made a small documentary in real time with a movie per week during the summer 2013. The short videos open the doors on the main characters of the movie with a reflexion around life, acting and teenage years like a mise en abyme.