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3 September 2002 |
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| In their quest to push the limit, a handful of surfers-turned-skaters develop new ways to ride the sport, on new terrain, according to their own rules |
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This movie is a documentary on the birth and gradual progression of one of the world's most popular pastimes for youngsters today – skating.
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Jay Adams and Tony Alva |
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It focuses on a group of kids from a part of town known as Dogtown in Venice Beach, California. Despite their reputation as rebels and outcasts, they formed the foundation of skating as we know it today. It introduces you to the way people lived and how their mentality to life became apparent, first through surfing and then through the alternative activity, skating.This handful of surfers-turned-skaters, the Zephyr skating team, in their quest to push the limit, develop new ways to make them unique and ride the sport according to their own rules. They find new terrain in the form of little asphalt hills in schoolyards and then later empty swimming pools caused by the heavy drought of the early 1980s.
| VITAL STATS
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 Director: Stacy Peralta
Cast: Peggy Oki, Shogo Kubo, Jeff Ho, Allen Sarlo
Running time: 87 min
The high-flying "vert" (i.e. vertical) style of skateboarding is now such a defining element of international youth culture that it's hard to believe it wasn't invented by a skateboard manufacturer. In fact, it was invented in the street, in a place called Dogtown, "where the debris meets the sea."
Dogtown was the name of a section of Santa Monica and Venice that lay almost in ruins by the early 1970s, a rundown urban beach neighbourhood with a legacy of outlaw surfing. It bred aggressive, territorial competitors with a street-smart sense of style. It was a centre for customized cars, graffiti, street gangs and surfboard design.
This is where the Zephyr Skating Team was created. |
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These pools became the playgrounds of such legends as Stacy Peralta, Jay Adams and Tony Alva who all rode for the Zephyr team. The movie is full of insight on how they influenced the sport to become what it is today, how commercialism and the buying of key skaters can make or break a team and it shows the true spirit of the sport as it is intended and not how it is misunderstood by critics. It spans 20 years and shows some of the first technical street tricks and also one the first frontside airs (vertical trick) ever performed. All in all it is an insightful history lesson on skating. It is also a touching tale of a team brought from a dilapidated amusement park to the heart of the spirit of skating. I found it very entertaining in a sort of free spirit, innocent rebel documentary kind of way. A bonus is the tasteful sound track featuring Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. More movie reviews:
Texas Rangers
Bad Company
Jason X
xXx
Minority Report
Eight Legged Freaks
Lilo & Stitch
The New Guy
The Believer
Resident Evil
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