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.

2018 is turning out to be a great year for skateboarding films. Bing Liu's "Minding the Gap" was an unrelentingly honest take on the violent family situations that often surround young skateboarders (everyone should see it!), Jonah Hill's directorial debut "Mid90's" looks like it'll be kickass, and now we have Crystal Moselle's "Skate Kitchen", which is an energetic and funny story about a group of real-life skateboarding crew of girls in NYC. This film felt like a semi-documentary, as all of the girls in the film appear to be playing themselves, recreating moments that have been posted on their active social media accounts. Living in NYC myself, it was refreshing to see a film that didn't use the typical aerial establishing shot of the city every time the scene changed. Everything related to the setting felt grounded rather than self-indulgent, as if the director was set on creating a mood that felt like a valid New York experience. Riding the subway, dealing with random catcallers, and dodging the incessant traffic of the streets, it all feels authentic. However, while the mood and visuals of the film remain consistently great, the story beats are unfortunately not as strong. The two big emotional conflicts in the film are essentially solved off-screen, and it feels like a missed opportunity to flesh out the awesome theme of positive relationships between women. It could be said that the director was making a point about how the struggles of our youth are often blown out of proportion and easily solved, but in practice it sometimes messed with the flow of the movie, at least for me. Basically, it was somewhat distracting to have the emotional plotline simmering in the background of a movie that was otherwise wildly fun, only for it to be solved with minimal effort. However, where the drama aspect of the movie falls short, that actual friendship and chemistry between the girls of the movie is so on point, it's basically worth the price of admission. The skate crew jokes around about things that are exclusive to women, has fun messing around in skate parks, and overall are just entertaining to be around. "Skate Kitchen" was a fun ride that felt progressive as a non-exploitative celebration of female friendships, and I wish there were more films like it.

Also Jaden Smith is in this movie and acts exactly how you'd expect him to act. I can't stress how fun/funny this movie is. If you can deal with a lack of dramatic payoff and you like to have fun, go see this movie.

This film shows young women shredding on skateboards as well as forming friendships with other young women. It's great to see independent films like these that show girls doing something strong and powerful and in a very male-dominated arena.

Movie night with Iris.

Skate Kitchen is a joy. A well-observed rites of passage story, and refreshingly a female one.

At the beginning the dreamy, sunlight shots had me a little anxious. Was it going to be another fetish skateboard film. Fortunately, not as it becomes a more deeper, engrossing tale. Skate Kitchen is about friendship, puberty, first love and jealousy. An urban tale but with beauty and joy. Top film.

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.