Another Day in Paradise is the second feature by Larry Clark, who made his début in 1995 with Kids, a controversial film about a day in the life of the youth of New York. With his new film, Clark returns to the surroundings familiar from his famous photo book Tulsa, in which he portrays himself and his fringe friends and acquaintances in the Mid West. The film is about the strange friendship, based on real life, between two teenagers and two adults – a friendship that adopts all the characteristics of a family.In the eyes of the young drug-users Bobbie and Rosie, Mel and Sid are the coolest adults they know. They always have money, don’t act difficult about love and drugs and earn their living bycommitting robbery. Through them, Bobbie and Rosie first come into contact with ‘the good life’. Mel teaches Bobbie the tricks of the trade as a crook and the hardened Sid behaves towards the tragic Rosie as an understanding mother: she goes shopping with her and gets her drugs. Then the sale of a drugs shipment fails, Bobbie and Rosie are wounded and the ‘family’ starts falling apart. The power of the film is partly evoked by the wonderful acting. The classical, doomed-outlaw mood is emphasised by a bluesy soundtrack with music by e.g. Otis Redding and Clarence Carter.
