Dogtown & Z-Boys (Cinema: October 2002)

I know it sounds like an bad Roddy Piper movie but Dogtown & Z-Boys is the essential "history of" for anybody who ever owned a skateboard. Narrated by Sean "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" Penn (a skater never forgets) the documentary follows the pre- & post history of the Zephyr Skate Team of the mid 70's - a bunch of rag tag kids from the wrong part of town (Santa Monica/Venice Beach) - with more than a passing resemblance to the Red Hand Gang - who, under the tuteledge of a trio of ambitious surf punks changed the history of skateboarding forever. These were the kids that resurrected the skating fad of the 50's (out of sheer boredom from being unable to surf 24/7) & repackaged it into the vast punk rock subculture it has become today.

The film is very much a brash punk rock affair: the music ranges from early Aerosmith to Black Sabbath to Hendrix, the visual cuts bleed across the screen & flash spasmodically, desperate to address the fledging attention span of its high-strung, zoned-out, radical stereotype of an audience. Super 8 surf footage blends effortlessly with dusty videotape, B&W interviews merge with arty backlights, Glen E. Friedman's jaw dropping, fish-eye photomontages of the time exude the same impassioned awe as his & others memories of the time (including Henry Rollins, Tony Hawks & Ian MacKaye).

But this is by no means a victory of adrenaline charged spectacle over substance, sure the over-obsequious demands of the filmmakers to keep the audience interested makes MTV look positively stoned & is sometimes annoying & unnecessary but the tales of insane heroics, illegal adventures & downright mischief by the original skate team laces this visual nymphomania with enough emotive empathication & comedy to keep an audience happy - see the outright humour & eutrepeneurism in carrying around a pump to drain pools they have found to skate! The story is perfectly structured, never lingering long enough in one place to run out of steam & almost cinematic in its plot as we wander from the territorial waters of Dogtown's no man's land to youthful exuberance, coming of age & the eventual tragedy of seperation that befell the friends.

By the film's end we are left with a glint in one eye & tear in the other. Somewhat like Milius' epic Big Wednesday we realise we've been witness to a truly great event, something magical, life changing & all too brief. Dogtown & Z-Boys is inspiring & impressive & like all great films, leaves us pondering why we haven't done more with our lives whilst assuring us the dream is still there if only we have the courage to reach for it...

...Oh yeh, wait 'til the end or you'll miss a bunch of stuff over the credits including how Dogtown got it's name.

RATING:

(c)Limer 2002