christidal

I watched kids when it came out, being a kid myself, when I was 16 years old. The movie itself was kinda weird, though watching these kids was impressive. The storyline was total nonsense, evem to a 16-year-old. What was much more memorable was when my friend and me got out of the cinema, we were attacked by two kids who had riled themselves up watching the movie. Not a nice experience. Now this documentary felt to me like the missing piece to Kids. We used to skate, too, and like the actors describe it here, it was indeed our only way to be productive and not get into trouble. Obviously, living in a small town in Germany, we weren't nearly growing up in such dire conditions as them, but skating did mean that much to us, too.

It was interesting and sad to see how "Kids" impacted qnd changed these kids' lives, kimnd of destroying the feeble "community" that they had built themselves around skating. Had a much more profound effect on me that watching Kids back in the day.

What this movie does really well is capture a feeling, the feeling of growing up in that specific time, as did I, even though in another part of the world. Skating because there was nothing better to do, the kind of communication between the kids... well done. The storyline is nothing special, sort of underdeveloped, a bit how a kid might write a movie. But that's maybe why the mood and inner dialogue of the protagonists transmits itself so well. Maybe this only works for you if you can identify or have experienced that era. But in my case, the movie loomed in a my mind for a while after watching.

I stumbled onto this movie on Prime and really enjoyed it. It reminded me of old Russian movies by the likes of Sokurov, with its slowly moving wide shots, lots of narrative elements in the excellent soundtrack and at times the camera being with the off-action instead of the on, while we only hear the on-action. Masterful camera work and a very good sound mix.

The futility escaping fate is transported credibly. Makes you feel sorry for the people of Mexico who often cannot rely on the authorities to protect them, one of the great scandals of our time that gets little attention in the world.

A very calm yet intense movie, I recommend it.