Skate Kitchen

This film captured a nostalgia of close female friendships that some are lucky to experience. It was more of a captured experience than a film focused on a narrative arc. Would recommend.

//Revelation Film Festival Review//

Watching Skate Kitchen is like reconnecting with a group of friends you haven't seen for ages but upon meeting up its like not even a day has passed. It's a breezy, relentlessly entertaining coming of age story that's a delight to watch.

Set amongst the New York subculture, the story focuses on Camille (newcomer Rachelle Vinberg), an 18 year-old Long Island teen who runs away from home to join a female skateboarding posse called Skate Kitchen. Connecting with the group as a kindred spirit, Camille struggles to reconcile her strained relationship with her mother with her newfound sense of belonging. Much like this year's best picture nominee Lady Bird, Skate Kitchen will prove instantly relatable to anyone who struggled to fit in during their formative years.

Successfully using non-professional actors at the time (with the exceptions of Elizabeth Rodriguez and Jaden Smith) this quasi-documentary centers on the NYC female skateboarding collective known as Skate Kitchen. It falls short at times, but overall I found it another fascinating film from director Crystal Moselle (The Wolfpack).

Although I'm way out of the intended demographic of the movie, I still was quite engaged and interested in the characters of the Skate Kitchen. With the exception of the lead here Camille (Rachelle Vinberg), we really don't find out a lot about the backgrounds or history of these teens. Thus, the movie is more about the portrayal of female friendship and bonding at this age, with the, at times, inevitable crossing paths with some male skateboarders.

Not a film that I would expect to like, yet I was taken in by the intimate portrayal of these teens, while trying not to judge their futures.

'Skate Kitchen (2018)' can be slow and it tends to meander but there's almost constantly a palpable sense of chemistry between its core players, the eponymous 'Skate Kitchen' (who each essentially play fictionalised versions of themselves). There's also a tangible, quite inviting atmosphere that perforates pretty much every scene, from the subtle and harmonious moments to the brash and loud ones. The flick falls into the category of film where the plot essentially comes second to the characters, as we're pretty much just put in the same space as them and allowed to experience what they do and how they feel when they're at they're most vulnerable. This works wonders purely because it all feels markedly 'real', not to mention suitably inclusive. This is helped by the fact that everyone except Jaden Smith does their own skating and that it's all suitably impressive, to boot. Everything just feels somewhat relaxed and it's easy to get drawn into the world. However, the narrative does wrap itself up pretty quickly and conventionally in a way that doesn't feel all that natural to what was previously established. There is also some unfortunate glamorisation of drug use. The experience isn't exactly riveting, either, even if it's usually engaging and generally entertaining. 7/10

Skate Kitchen is a decent coming-of-age film for young women in their late teens/early 20s. It doesn't have much of a plot or a story, but that won't bother the target audience. While it wasn't for me, it will suit some just fine.