Director Crystal Moselle discovered a group of female skateboarders in the NYC East Village and along with two co-writers fashioned a fictional tale loosely based on the personalities of this odd sports collective. It's an ethnically diverse group headed by co-founder Rachelle Vinberg who plays Camille, a shy interloper who lives with her single mom out on Long Island (the mom is played by Elizabeth Rodriguez, one of the few professional actors here).
A good number of critics questioned why Moselle didn't film this as a documentary, much like her earlier effort in 2015, The Wolfpack. Instead, she had the skaters improvise scenes and develop a story. While the visuals here are nicely done, as it's not that easy putting together such a large canvas of skaters in motion, the plot unfortunately doesn't measure up to the acrobatic feats displayed on screen.
The plot features the usual mother-daughter imbroglio where Camille is thrown out of her mother's home due to her rebellious ways. She joins the skate collective led by a tough lesbian Kurt (Nina Moran) and the more easy-going Janay (Ardelia Lovelace), who along with her supportive father, take Camille in for a short while.
Eventually Camille starts hanging out with the skateboarding guys including Devon (former boyfriend of Janay) and played by Jaden Smith (celebrity actor Will Smith's son). The girls look poorly on Camille's decision to hang with the boys and Janay feels particularly slighted as a result of Camille's new relationship with Devon (while it's platonic, Janay doesn't believe it's as simple as that).
You can probably guess what happens. Camille is banished from the group and eventually returns to live with her mother. There is nothing extraordinarily different or original here in terms of the narrative, and much of the dialogue sounds improvised. If you have an interest in skateboarding then you'll probably enjoy this film. For me, all that skateboarding became quite tedious. Moselle is a talented editor and knows how to put a film together. Better next time however, is to seek out an established screenwriter who has unearthed some subject matter that is a bit more compelling.
A good number of critics questioned why Moselle didn't film this as a documentary, much like her earlier effort in 2015, The Wolfpack. Instead, she had the skaters improvise scenes and develop a story. While the visuals here are nicely done, as it's not that easy putting together such a large canvas of skaters in motion, the plot unfortunately doesn't measure up to the acrobatic feats displayed on screen.
The plot features the usual mother-daughter imbroglio where Camille is thrown out of her mother's home due to her rebellious ways. She joins the skate collective led by a tough lesbian Kurt (Nina Moran) and the more easy-going Janay (Ardelia Lovelace), who along with her supportive father, take Camille in for a short while.
Eventually Camille starts hanging out with the skateboarding guys including Devon (former boyfriend of Janay) and played by Jaden Smith (celebrity actor Will Smith's son). The girls look poorly on Camille's decision to hang with the boys and Janay feels particularly slighted as a result of Camille's new relationship with Devon (while it's platonic, Janay doesn't believe it's as simple as that).
You can probably guess what happens. Camille is banished from the group and eventually returns to live with her mother. There is nothing extraordinarily different or original here in terms of the narrative, and much of the dialogue sounds improvised. If you have an interest in skateboarding then you'll probably enjoy this film. For me, all that skateboarding became quite tedious. Moselle is a talented editor and knows how to put a film together. Better next time however, is to seek out an established screenwriter who has unearthed some subject matter that is a bit more compelling.