The Bones Brigade, we've heard/read/seen so much about them, know their influence and admire their contributions to the sport of skateboarding, so it's about time for a recap.
Once again Stacy Peralta tasked himself with chronicling the history of this (his) part of skateboarding history. And already it becomes tricky - because when the former coach of a team releases a documentary about it, one must be critical separating truth from pure euphoria. And this film has both.
Besides the typical "it was so special"-, "we were the best"- and "we changed everything"-claims which appear to be mandatory for these kind of documentaries, there are also very critical and enlightening statements that broaden the insight. At some points Stacy even dares to contradict himself by crossing his statements with contrary ones of other skaters. This adds a lot to the credibility of this film as it shows that Peralta's vision and understanding of this story may not necessarily comply with others.
But the real gem of this documentary is Rodney Mullen. Here we have a sophisticated skater who does not only understand how to push the boundaries of the sport but also how to put it into poetic language to describe it. His comparisons and metaphors citing Beethoven and Franz Kafka shine so bright that the following comments from other interviewees just fade. He emits honesty, passion and eloquence which a lot of others don't. Words like his are hardly ever found in your typical average sports documentary.
What is again great about a Peralta documentary is that he has obviously done his homework, providing tons of historic material and weaving it together in a manner that is easy to digest and pick up. The music is good, the atmosphere is very positive and information value is definitely higher compared to other documentaries that try to chronicle the history (of parts of it) of a sport.
But at several points the film just drifts away into over-self-glorification adding neither emotion nor information. But in the end it is very recommendable chronicle not to be missed, especially from skateboard fans. Who ever wants to see the "other side" of skateboarding from that time period is well advised to see "Rising Son - The legend of skateboarder Christian Hosoi" - it has much lower production values but explains pretty well that skateboarding was more than just boyscouts having fun.
