The Bad Kids

Directors Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe (best-known for their Terry Gilliam behind-the-scenes docs Lost In La Mancha and The Hamster Factor) have made The Bad Kids in the “fly on the wall” mold of Frederick Wiseman, crossed with the “year-in-the-life” storytelling of Hoop Dreams. The structure of Black Rock itself is one of their biggest narrative assets.

This isn’t just a necessary or powerful story; it’s a well-told one.

Desert flowers can be hard to spot, but are often distinctly beautiful, and The Bad Kids has them in focus.

It’s bracing and inspiring, what filmmakers Keith Fulton and Leo Pepe show us in that first hour.

Taking the macro view, [Fulton and Pepe] seem to miss out on the types of thorny micro details — about McGee’s relationship with his mother, or about Viland’s own history preceding her tenure at Black Rock — that would have provided additional complexity.

The Bad Kids falters due to a lack of focus.

The Bad Kids is interesting enough in what it shows us to spark interest in what it leaves un-shown. In its case, the information supplied by a few well-chosen talking heads could have given it additional clarity and appeal.