Lords of Dogtown

I saw Lords of Dogtown yesterday, finally. It's been sitting on my laptop for a while. I got it solely because of this beautiful version of 'Wish You Were Here' by Sparklehorse, which plays throughout. That's one gawguss song.

Years ago when I was working at the ice-cream shop at Rialto, I saw the doco Dogtown & the Z-Boys when it played there, so it was interesting to see the theatrical version.

But, er, you sure could tell this one was written by Stacy Peralta. On account of how in the movie the character of Stacy Peralta is the 'good guy'... without the faults that grace the other characters. Hence, he is the most boring one on screen. I certainly get that he seemed the one with the most screwed-on business-mind, which is probably why his name is the one I recognise the most - and also why this film is now here. If he wasn't that guy, we'd not have the movie nor the documentary (that Peralta was also behind yet didn't seem to have that skew). Still, the other characters were more interesting.

Heath Ledger was amazing as Skip. He's a real chameleon, one of those actors that becomes. I wanted to shake him and tell him to work it out, dude. Emile Hirsch is delightful in that scrummy-isn't-he-pretty-and-pouty way. All that long blond-tipped hair; boy was I sad to see him shave that off (en passant I love it when actors actually shave their heads on film - particularly women, go Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta). And I'm not saying he was bad at all, in fact I liked the arc his character took the best. The moment where he dances around Kathy Alva made me grin. The moment where he walks away from skateboarding - he literally does.

There's some beautiful imagery. The sun setting behind the crumbling and broken black facade of the old Atlantic pier - dead ferris wheel against the luminous grey morning sky. Surfers catching waves between the pilings. Wind in blond hair as Hirsch skates slow and lazy curves down sloped tarmac streets.

There is an awesome cameo by Tony Hawke as an astronaut who tries to ride a skateboard and he falls off and gets up and says "it's harder than it looks" - hehe.

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke - who did Thirteen and has just done the teenybopper vampire flick, Twilight.

I want to see the doco again now.