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Lords of Dogtown
Jun. 5th, 2006 07:37 pm"Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me on the sunscreen." - Baz Luhrmann
Lords of Dogtown is the dramatised history of the birth of street skating. It's the companion to the Dogtown and Z-Boys documentary, and it's rather good. The characterisation is fun, in a beautiful-people-doing-something-intense kinda way: the superstars are there. There are a few critical moments that really work well: the first set of urethane wheels, handled as urgently and clandestinely as a drug; the rise and fall of the Zephyr team as they do the Rock Star Breakup Thing (the party turning sour is nicely done); the first air trick.
C'mon, a regular frontside air? That's the high point? Well, it's not that sort of movie, but yes, if you want skating there's loads. Skatecams, no less, lots of close-in wooshy visuals and enough spills to make you go "ooh!" even alone. The opening skate to the beach - board in hand - is great. And I once tried to do the timing-the-lights thing, to tragic effect (I fell off, Mum told me off, and my super-cool brown corduroys were ruined). If you've skated on early wheels you'll know how bastard hard it is!
The extra bits are worth the hire: plenty of spills (watch for the folding-back leg in the Dog Bowl sequence) and it's fun to see the real Z-boys - now in their forties and fifties - alongside the actors. The old gimmers can still do it, too.
This movie isn't an historical document despite the fanatically-precise wardrobe and design work. It's a mythologising: here's how the story ought to be. The piers are scarier, the streets rougher, the tricks more impressive, the board shop seedier than it could ever be in real life. This is a creation myth. In the beginning, there were planks, and wheels of clay, and there were surfers who were spurned. Then came polyurethane and Skip, and Stacy and Tony and Jay, and then came the drought which emptied the swimming pools, and the wave that breaks all day, every day, was born.
Makes me want to have another go, to be honest. How hard can it be? Got any grip-tape?
Lords of Dogtown is the dramatised history of the birth of street skating. It's the companion to the Dogtown and Z-Boys documentary, and it's rather good. The characterisation is fun, in a beautiful-people-doing-something-intense kinda way: the superstars are there. There are a few critical moments that really work well: the first set of urethane wheels, handled as urgently and clandestinely as a drug; the rise and fall of the Zephyr team as they do the Rock Star Breakup Thing (the party turning sour is nicely done); the first air trick.
C'mon, a regular frontside air? That's the high point? Well, it's not that sort of movie, but yes, if you want skating there's loads. Skatecams, no less, lots of close-in wooshy visuals and enough spills to make you go "ooh!" even alone. The opening skate to the beach - board in hand - is great. And I once tried to do the timing-the-lights thing, to tragic effect (I fell off, Mum told me off, and my super-cool brown corduroys were ruined). If you've skated on early wheels you'll know how bastard hard it is!
The extra bits are worth the hire: plenty of spills (watch for the folding-back leg in the Dog Bowl sequence) and it's fun to see the real Z-boys - now in their forties and fifties - alongside the actors. The old gimmers can still do it, too.
This movie isn't an historical document despite the fanatically-precise wardrobe and design work. It's a mythologising: here's how the story ought to be. The piers are scarier, the streets rougher, the tricks more impressive, the board shop seedier than it could ever be in real life. This is a creation myth. In the beginning, there were planks, and wheels of clay, and there were surfers who were spurned. Then came polyurethane and Skip, and Stacy and Tony and Jay, and then came the drought which emptied the swimming pools, and the wave that breaks all day, every day, was born.
Makes me want to have another go, to be honest. How hard can it be? Got any grip-tape?
