In my endeavor to watch Street Dreams last week, I had the unfortunate experience of realizing that I confused the title for a Christian Partisan movie called, Hardflip.
From what I said in the previous review, I will basically watch any film that involves skateboarding. I used to think that Street Dreams will be the least desirable in the boarding genre, but to my surprise, I actually liked the film. Okay, I did not say that it was perfect: the acting was bad, one could easily predict the plot, the music was excruciating, the motion graphics that were added at the end of the film did not synchronically fit the film in overall… To put it in simpler terms, I nevertheless enjoyed the movie. The reason?
Street Dreams is different from the majority of films that use skateboarding within their plot as it features professional skateboarders in lead roles, which means all the stunts are done by the actors, not poorly disguised wig-wearing stunt doubles. For many people, this might not be significant, but for the people who ride, watching a bum do a pathetic limp mongo shove to a ledge all while waiting for the actual rider to do some delicate footwork on top is one of the worst things imaginable.
In these cases, the angles are always off as well because you need to ensure the athlete’s face is hidden, so you typically end up with either a butt shot or looking towards feet.
At some point during the film I realized that the only reason I thought Id hate it is because I’m secretly jealous of most of the dudes in it. A majority of the skaters/actors in this film have managed to monetize their skateboarding fame and repurpose it into profitable commercial enterprises. Some people call that “selling out.” I call it, “Good job being a smart person.”
One of my main complaints with the movie probably has a lot to do with the fact that I’m a dad. The protagonist, Derreck Cabrera (portrayed by Paul Rodriguez), is a young promising skateboarder who is personally failing in every other aspect of his life that does not involve a skateboard. He barely makes it through school, he can’t stop being a nuisance to society, so much so that he gets arrested for being in places he doesn’t belong. He’s got a habit of making his mother cry, and for what? So he can get fifth place at Tampa Am. Can anybody out there name a skateboarder who placed fifth at Tampa Am off the top of their heads? No? Exactly.
You need to achieve something impossibly grand to be qualified to tell a great underdog story, which is why I find the fifth place finish puzzling. It is more simply unremarkable.
The only issue that I have with the movie besides the others is the soundtrack. It’s like Street Dreams and Hardflip talkd to the same youth culture agency to understand and determine the best type of music that goes along with skateboarding. The conclusion? Limp Bizkit. I feel more kids are listening to Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin than that junk nowadays. Although, there are probably a lot of rules and regulations when creating a movie, and if the white old men sponsoring movies want children relishing in rap rock on the cinema, that’s how it is, I presume. But it is still bothersome.
In short, I really apologize for rap rock. And I am also quite frustrated for never being able to accomplish a no stone grind trick like P-Rod. The end.
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