Wassup Rockers( 2005, Larry Clark)

Wassup Rockers is Larry Clark's most recent film and is reminiscent of his first film Kids, except there is no rampant drug use in this one. Wassup Rockers is a story about a group of Latino skateboarders who eschew the hip-hop culture of their South Central Los Angeles gang centered neighborhood. They instead listen to punk rock wear tight clothes and ride skateboards. The plot revolves very loosely around the kids going to skate a famous skate spot in Beverly Hills and the assorted cast of characters they come into contact with, and then their subsequent "escape" from Beverly Hills back to their "safe" neighbor hood of South Central. The skateboarders adventures through Beverly Hills and their plight to get back to South Central vaguely reminded me of that cult 70's film "The Warriors". I also must add that the scenarios that the kids find themselves in throughout the movie are all loosely based on actual events that they have encountered in their real lives. Clark at first wanted to make a straight up documentary about them, in fact the movie opens with some documentary footage he shot a year before starting the film, of the lead boy in the film, Jonathan recalling the first time he had sex. Clark however really just wanted to make a real movie based on their lives.

While I enjoyed this film immensely I do have to admit that it has many downfalls. The acting for one isn't very good, most notably because Clark uses all non-actors. He literally found these kids skateboarding one day while he was doing a photo shoot out in LA. The film has its slow spots and in the first part focuses too much on the kids practicing skate tricks. The film does pick up in the second half as this unruly band of skateboards try to make it back to South Central, often resulting in some hilarious encounters and some tragic ones too. Than there is also the odd long time fascination that Clark has with shirtless teenage boys. At one point, as the camera is lingering a bit too long on the shirtless torso of one of the boys, my girlfriend asks is this guy a pervert or something?

With all that aside Wassup Rockers left me with a great feeling at the end of the movie. Maybe it was because of the awesome punk rock soundtrack or because the scenes of the kids skateboarding made me long for my days as a youthful skateboarder, just looking for the next skate spot. Or it could be that Clark just has a way of making us all feel nostalgic for our idealized days as reckless teenagers.

Wassup Rockers imdb page
Wassup Rockers official site Check this site out it has some great stuff on it and more info about the film