08/29/2002 Entry:
"Dogtown And Z-Boys - Stacy Peralta (2002)"

I feel I like a little distance from this to truly judge it as a film, since I have a lot of affinity and sympathy for the skateboarding subculture. However I really enjoyed this, and as a documentary I feel like it was quite successful. It realy educated and enlightened me about a groups of people and their influence that I would have remained ignorant of otherwise.

Dogtown And Z-Boys is so filled with life. In any other documentary, the hyper-kinetic editing and blaring rock soundtrack would probably be a distraction, but in this context it just worked perfectly. It highlighted the feeling and atmosphere these guys lived through when they were kids. I only have one real complaint, I would have liked to see more extended footage of the kids skating. So much of what is here is cut up and edited into bits and pieces. I understand what they were trying to acheive by doing that, but still it would have been nice to see more extended pieces. While the piece was going, I felt that the section highlighting Peralta was somewhat questionable, but it quickly became obvious that the guy had a huge influence on the sport and he really should be highlighted. I mean, I remember the name Powell/Peralta from when I was a kid, I had just never put the two together.

Peralta himself addresses this during the entertaining audio commentary consisting of him and editor Paul Crowder. He says whenever that section comes on, he has to leave, and it was only at the urging of the other members of the skate team that he finally decided to let it be included. Overall while the commentary is fun, its not horribly enlightening. Their are some interesting moments and some good stories, but a lot of it is just "I love what you did here" and "oh this part is so great". Perlta and Crowder's enthusiasm carries it off though, keeping it from getting too boring and really puttin their love of this time at the forefront.

One thing I could not believe as I watched this was how much incredible classic rock is in it. I mean, I can't even imagine the nightmare it must have been clearing the music rights. Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Stooges, The Buzzcocks, David Bowie, The Allman Brothers...christ. For a small low-budget indie documentary to have gotten all those clearances is quite frankly incredible. More than that it was inspiring. As I nurse my documentary production dreams, this film really shows how a lot of the things I wanted to do can be actually be acheived by a couple guys with cameras. Its like the flipside of an Errol Morris documentary, which is also filled with life, but in a much more controlled and intentional way. Great viewing, I really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it.

Replies: 7 comments

Just saw this last night. I thought it was amazing how they invented modern skateboarding, pioneered branding, developed a cure for cancer, deciphered the formula for Dr. Pepper, and defeated Communism, all from a street corner in Santa Monica! Okay, I apologize for the smart-assery. But I think the success of this movie depends on your affinity for/knowledge of skateboarding and surfing culture, and this movie confirmed for me that I had none. It gets kinda irritating when doing skateboard stunts in an empty pool is presented as the Dawn of A New Era, and I'm thinking "How has this affected my life in any way?" But I imagine for afficianados, it's skateboard porn. On the other hand, I was never bored, and ditto about the music--I think someone had capital "A" Access. (And I thought I'd heard every Led Zep tune there is--I'm old enough, I think--but there was one song I had never heard before. Very bouncy and fun.) Posted by Kent M. Beeson @ 09/04/2002 04:18 PM CST

The Jay Adams segment is a bit too dramatic. I almost laughed out loud in the theater during it. Yes, the path from cute kid to jail guy is sad, but c'mon, don't make it so sappy. Posted by '70s skater @ 09/04/2002 05:37 PM CST

I'm glad you brought up the whole Jay Adams sequence--the whole thing is shot and edited in a way to suggest that Adams died...and then to find out that he's in jail...well, I felt manipulated. Posted by Kent M. Beeson @ 09/05/2002 09:59 AM CST

Both of these comments have validity, particularly the Jay Addams ones. I too, expected something much more tragic from Addams rather than just being in jail on drug charges (although I'm sure it felt pretty tragic to those around him.) Someone else recently mentioned to me how they were turned off by the reverential nature of the film (especially considering who produced it) but come on, how many people start a new multi-billion dollar industry by breaking into people's backyards? I mean, that is pretty freaking cool. Posted by gdd @ 09/05/2002 11:09 AM CST

You're right--it *is* cool. I just wished that I had some connection to it, that I *cared*. But it may as well have happened in Paraguay, that's how distant it all is to me. But another thought I had after watching it: if this story were remade as a dramatic, fictional narrative...well, first off, it would potentially rock, and second, I think *that* would give me the sense of connection to these people and this situation, that I was missing from the doc--if it allowed me to really get to know these people and experience this situation in a "first hand" sort of way, as opposed to having these skateboarders handed to me on a platter, and being told, "they're cool". [that last bit of criticism isn't really directed at this movie, since, in a lot of ways, that's the nature of documentaries..] Posted by Kent M. Beeson @ 09/05/2002 01:40 PM CST

Jesus, look at this. Actual discussion between multiple people on cineblog. The mind reels. Posted by gdd @ 09/05/2002 01:44 PM CST

D'oh! You jinxed it! Posted by Kent M. Beeson @ 09/06/2002 09:58 AM CST