KEN PARK received great deal of controversy – in other words, free publicity – due to the scenes that contain non-simulated urination and sexual activity. Shawn (played by James Bullard) is involved in sexual relationship with Zoe (played by Maeve Quinlan), mother of his girlfriend. Peaches (played by Tiffany Limos) lives with Catholic fundamentalist father whom he tries to defy by engaging in BDSM practices with her boyfriend. Claude (played by Stephen Jasso) is considered effeminate and gay-like by his macho father (played by Wade Williams) only to become target of his sexual abuse. Tate (played by James Ransone) lives with his grandparents and reacts to their kindness with increasing levels of violence. The plot continues to describe the lives four of his friends. The film is set in Californian town Visalia and begins with the suicide of adolescent skater Ken Park (played by Adam Chubbuk). One of the films where this argument could be made is KEN PARK, controversial 2002 drama directed by Larry Clark and Edward Lachman. According to them, explicit erotica too often doesn’t serve any other purpose than to shock or titillate audience and thus hide the fact that a film doesn’t have artistic merit. Tags: Edward Lachman, James Bullard, James Ransone, Larry Clark, Maeve Quinlan, Stephen Jasso, Tiffany Limos, Wade WilliamsĪll those opposed to nudity, explicit sex and other more graphic forms of film erotica often try to hide their political and philosophical agendas by employing strictly artistic arguments. Concluding that he did, he skates off to kill himself.Ken Park (2002) OctoPosted by Dragan Antulov in Film Reviews. The ending finally reveals the motive behind Ken Park's suicide: he had impregnated his girlfriend (Loranne Maze), who responded to his suggestion of abortion by asking if he regretted his mother for not aborting him. As Tate is being arrested, Shawn, Claude, and Peaches meet and have sex as a threesome. The film cuts frequently between subplots, with no overlap of characters or events until the end. He eventually murders his grandparents in their bed, in retaliation for his grandfather (Harrison Young) "cheating" at Scrabble and his grandmother (Patricia Place) for "invading his privacy" the act arouses him sexually. He is shown engaging in autoerotic asphyxiation during masturbation. Tate (James Ransone) is an unstable and sadistic adolescent living with his grandparents, whom he resents and frequently verbally abuses. When her father catches her and her boyfriend, Curtis, (Mike Apaletegui) on her bed about to have sex, he beats the boy and savagely disciplines her, including forcing her to participate in a quasi-incestuous wedding ritual with him. Peaches (Tiffany Limos) is a girl living alone with her extremely religious father (Julio Oscar Mechoso), who fixates on her as the embodiment of her deceased mother. Claude's father detests him for being insufficiently manly, but after coming home drunk one night, he attempts to perform oral sex on him, causing Claude to run away from home. Claude (Stephen Jasso) is a troubled teen who fends off physical and emotional abuse from his alcoholic father while trying to take care of his very pregnant mother, who never does anything to defend him (mostly because she is used to the abuse that Claude's father inflicts upon her and Claude). He casually socializes with their family, who (including his girlfriend) are completely unaware of the situation and they never find out about him and Rhonda. He has an ongoing sexual relationship with his girlfriend (Zara Mcdowell)'s mother, Rhonda (Maeve Quinlan), throughout the story. Shawn (James Bullard) is the most stable of the four main characters. His death is used to set up the rest of the film, which follows the lives of four other teens he used to hang out with, shortly after the suicide. He arrives at a skate park, where he casually sits in the middle of it, sets up a camcorder, and shoots himself in the head with a handgun. In the opening scene, teenager Ken Park (Adam Chubbuck) is seen skateboarding across Visalia.The synopsis below may give away important plot points.