Bones Brigade: An Autobiography

I've never been a skater or particularly followed the sport other than the odd Tony hawk game round friends when I was younger. That being said this is extremely interesting well shot and surprisingly emotional. I would imagine this would be just as good no matter your previous knowledge of the sport or bones brigade. Definitely worth watching.

I grew up in the 80s worshiping some of the pro skaters like Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, and Christian Hosoi. To finally have a documentary that chronicles the entire progression of skateboarding in the late 70s and through the 80s is something that has been missing up until now. I cannot tell you how compelling this documentary is. It's inspirational, touching, educational, and just downright interesting. For anyone who like skateboarding, this is a must-see. For anyone who's even mildly curious about the history of skateboarding, I would highly recommend watching this.

The documentary focuses on Rodney Mullen, Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero, and Lance Mountain, along with their Bones Brigade coach/mentor/father-figure, Stacey Peralta. It chronicles the evolution of skateboarding in the late 70s and through the 80s, the development of tricks such as the ollie, the caballerial, the mctwist, the general climate and lack of acceptance of skateboarding, the transition from pool skating to other types of vert and street skating, the personal struggles some of the Bones Brigade team members went through, and the inspirational triumphs this group of young teens experienced in the 80s.

The Bones Brigade, we've heard/read/seen so much about them, know their influence and admire their contributions to the sport of skateboarding, so it's about time for a recap.

Once again Stacy Peralta tasked himself with chronicling the history of this (his) part of skateboarding history. And already it becomes tricky - because when the former coach of a team releases a documentary about it, one must be critical separating truth from pure euphoria. And this film has both.

Besides the typical "it was so special"-, "we were the best"- and "we changed everything"-claims which appear to be mandatory for these kind of documentaries, there are also very critical and enlightening statements that broaden the insight. At some points Stacy even dares to contradict himself by crossing his statements with contrary ones of other skaters. This adds a lot to the credibility of this film as it shows that Peralta's vision and understanding of this story may not necessarily comply with others.

But the real gem of this documentary is Rodney Mullen. Here we have a sophisticated skater who does not only understand how to push the boundaries of the sport but also how to put it into poetic language to describe it. His comparisons and metaphors citing Beethoven and Franz Kafka shine so bright that the following comments from other interviewees just fade. He emits honesty, passion and eloquence which a lot of others don't. Words like his are hardly ever found in your typical average sports documentary.

What is again great about a Peralta documentary is that he has obviously done his homework, providing tons of historic material and weaving it together in a manner that is easy to digest and pick up. The music is good, the atmosphere is very positive and information value is definitely higher compared to other documentaries that try to chronicle the history (of parts of it) of a sport.

But at several points the film just drifts away into over-self-glorification adding neither emotion nor information. But in the end it is very recommendable chronicle not to be missed, especially from skateboard fans. Who ever wants to see the "other side" of skateboarding from that time period is well advised to see "Rising Son - The legend of skateboarder Christian Hosoi" - it has much lower production values but explains pretty well that skateboarding was more than just boyscouts having fun.

One of my all time favorite documentaries. If you were born between 1965 - 2000, even if you don't care about skateboards you should watch this movie.

It tells the story of the most influential skateboarding crew of all time from the mouths of the skaters themselves. It manages to get a good sense of progression and forward movement that grips you in the same manner that fiction movies do, and features a lot of varied footage and iconography.

Also, Rodney Mullen, one of the biggest legends ever, dispenses so much wisdom in this movie. Wisdom that applies to all art form, not just skateboarding.

I was one of the many fortunate skaters to have grown up during this unbelievable era of skateboarding, and even though i had watched all of the Bones Brigade videos countless times as a young obsessive skater, I still found myself surprised by so many of the things that these groundbreaking skaters had to say. It has been a while since i found myself reminiscing about my own young teen years but this film made me do exactly that, a mixture of thinking about friends and the freedom that skateboarding brought. Even if you aren't a fan of skateboarding, do yourself a favor and watch this film anyway, it is truly inspirational!