Cookery shows are always popular none more so than Nigella Lawson’s whose audience included a high percentage of men most likely drawn by her coy looks to camera, lascivious licking of fingers and sultry speaking tones which drew complaints notably from one viewer who had been ‘watching’ so intently that he pulled his cock off! (‘What? You’re making this up again!‘ – Ed) Skate Kitchen rather than being a location for a cookery programme on fish is actually set in New York where a skateboarding girl Camille (Rachelle Vinberg) has an skate accident which only girls can suffer and is euphemistically called, ‘credit carded’ .
It’s enough for her single mother to ban her from further skateboarding but like any rebellious teenager Camille ignores her and travels to another part of the big apple where she knows her mother can’t find her.
The skate kitchen, ever since its hey-day in the 70’s, had always been a magnet for slackers and stoners and it is no different here. Camille quickly makes friends with a girl gang of skaters who take her under their wing. A bit of a loner at heart she’s a decent kid but the teenage tribalism here is ultimately something of a bad influence on her as seen in a party scene which degenerates into a teenage orgy – it’s a wake up all that perhaps these aren’t the best girls to be hanging around with. Looking awkward and embarrassed its one of several scenes where parents will have nightmares about where and what their own teenage children are up to.
Rachelle Vinberg is a real life skater found by writer director Crystal Moselle and she has a natural affinity with the role as are all the rest of the cast each with their own distinctive look yet safe to experiment in the confines of their skate kitchen tribe. The only professional actor is Jaden Smith, son of Will, and he’s been well published with his moronic tweets and numb nut thoughts that have included such gems as, “If new born babies could speak they would be the most intelligent beings on Planet Earth’ or ‘The more time you spend awake, the more time you spend asleep’ or ‘How can mirrors be real if our eyes aren’t real?’ . Basically in real life he seems to be what many would call, ‘a compete dick’ but here he comes over as perfectly likeable and normal – so on that front it’s a great bit of acting.
Skate Kitchen is a rites of passage, coming of age independent film where nothing really happens. It’s part documentary feel and subject matter plays like a descendant of Larry Clarks controversial 1995 film ‘Kids’ but what comes through here is the importance of friends and just the sheer thrill of hanging out and the visceral thrill of skateboarding.
Here’s the Skate Kitchen trailer……
