Dogtown and Z-Boys

The mid seventies, in the area between Santa Monica and Venice known locally as Dogtown. The kids around the Zephyr surf shop are skating. In 1976 California declares a drought and orders swimming pools drained. The kids start riding the empty pools, and skateboarding becomes something else. Stacy Peralta directs. Sean Penn narrates. Its force comes from the archive. Craig Stecyk and Glen Friedman photographed and filmed these kids at the time, and the documentary rests largely on that material. The period is directly on screen. One detail makes it contested: Peralta was one of the team. He is telling his own history, and where he stands in the film became an issue. Some critics wrote that the account is too forgiving. Its editing and use of music count among the examples that changed documentary form; fast cutting, period rock and animated photographs became common in sports documentary afterwards. The same story was made as fiction in 2005 as Lords of Dogtown, again written by Peralta. Who it is for: viewers who like skate culture, seventies California and subculture documentary. Who it is not for: the film glorifies its own heroes and keeps no critical distance, and the rhythm starts repeating after a while.