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★★★½☆
18 July 2018
A movie review of SKATE KITCHEN. |
“Boys are just uneducated,” Kurt (Nina Moran)
I learnt a new phrase watching SKATE KITCHEN: To be “credit-carded”. Whatever your gender, you will be wincing within the first few minutes as lead Camille (Rachelle Vinberg) gets credit-carded while skate boarding. There is a lot of blood. Everyone in the screening surely felt her pain. Like all sports people with iron wills, the injury does not put Camille off from continuing her passion. SKATE KITCHEN is a mixture of genres: Sports flick, coming of age movie, and gender parity celebration. One bum note: The typical bromance/rom-com staple of falling out with pals, learning a life lesson, and then making up. Seriously filmmakers, this needs to be dropped A.S.A.P. It is so tired as to reduce the impact of whatever story you are conveying.
I learnt a new phrase watching SKATE KITCHEN: To be “credit-carded”. Whatever your gender, you will be wincing within the first few minutes as lead Camille (Rachelle Vinberg) gets credit-carded while skate boarding. There is a lot of blood. Everyone in the screening surely felt her pain. Like all sports people with iron wills, the injury does not put Camille off from continuing her passion. SKATE KITCHEN is a mixture of genres: Sports flick, coming of age movie, and gender parity celebration. One bum note: The typical bromance/rom-com staple of falling out with pals, learning a life lesson, and then making up. Seriously filmmakers, this needs to be dropped A.S.A.P. It is so tired as to reduce the impact of whatever story you are conveying.
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What elevates SKATE KITCHEN on the other hand is the examination of two elements:
- Not wanting to be pinned down to a tribe.
- Not wanting to be sucked into drama.
Teenager Camille is an only child of divorce. From her perspective, the parentals have turned out to be demanding and thin-skinned. Camille is frustratingly taciturn, and one guesses especially so for herself. An introvert, she comes across repeatedly as someone who runs away from confrontation, rather than articulates her grievances and desires. Camille’s lack of confidence is of course understandable. Who among the audience hasn’t played out arguments in their head after the fact, instead of dealing with the matter in the moment? What has created Camille? We are only given glimpses to try and piece together a portrait. Well done to the creative team for not spoon-feeding us. In this instance, parsimonious biographical detail actually helps in making her character more universal.
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The meat of SKATE KITCHEN is about Camille hooking up with a female skater posse in Manhattan. They are welcoming and bolshy, and provide a space for her to self-realise. They do not take B.S. from rivals, but Camille is not so interested in beefs. She is about the purity of the sport and ethereally wants to float between crews to find fulfilment. A kinda love triangle is thrown into the mix complicating friendship dynamics. One is not completely sold, but it adds turbulence - showing how a person can be buffeted when isolated.
Camille is surrounded by unnecessary drama, as she sees it. And one cannot help but agree with her. Surely we all know people who are addicted to causing relationship ruckuses. They are tiring to be around. SKATE KITCHEN is about flawed decency making its way in the world. Now can we give director Crystal Moselle a big budget, and apply that level of characterisation to a blockbuster?
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