DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS
dir: Stacy Peralta
"A no man's land of symbiotic disharmony, a dead wonderland." - Sean Penn
Brief Synopsis
Chronicling the origins and evolution of skateboarding through the story of the Z-Boys, a group of surfers from California who redefined skateboarding culture.
Why It's Here
Finally, a documentary without controversy, lies, and bias. All of my frustrations with the genre are eliminated with this easy-going, interesting and unique documentary about American culture, the 70's, and a group of nobodies who proved everyone wrong.
The Z-Boys were a group of kids who hung out at the Zephyr Surf Shop in Venice-Santa Monica. The group of kids that everyone labelled as losers, nobodies and failures would find a passion that would prove them to become hugely famous and influential. When the surf season was quiet, the Z-Boys adopted skateboarding which was regarded as nothing more than a simplistic hobby toy. Using emptied swimming pools as their ocean they surfed concrete waves in ways no one had done before. Their time wasting became the inspiration for thousands around the world for decades to come.
What makes this documentary great is the relaxation of it, set in California with footage of the easy-going 1970's, the Z-Boys tear up the streets, enter skate competitions where they are labelled as misfits, much to the dislike of the simplistic skaters that were considered the norm. "Dogtown" is entertaining, light-hearted and a well intentioned look in to a revolution in American culture. Without the influence of the Z-Boys the skateboard would have likely died in the 80's-90's and vertical skating never adopted. Set to classic rock tunes and with more surely nostalgic archive footage than you could imagine, "Dogtown" at first seems to be light-hearted but by-the-numbers.
Yet, the tribute to this misunderstood sport is surprisingly poetic, the writing narrated by Sean Penn evokes the same sense of cautiously optimistic counter-culture writing of people like Hunter S. Thompson who looked back on their glory days with a sense of pride in their outcast ways. The narration speaks of America as a whole and it's Manifest Destiny colliding with the California culture of surfers and skaters. The film reminisces of a culture long extinct, yet with attitudes that are eternal, giving the film a universal appeal. While it does make mention to the social troubles of being a surfer and the association with junkies and scum, it largely opts for a positive view of this slacker culture, aided by the current-day interviews with former Z-Boys who have all become more mature members of society.
For it's poetic scripting, "Dogtown" doesn't dare go soft on us, the maverick filmmaking created by Peralta includes several unorthodox techniques such as Sean Penn breaking narrative flow through coughs and errors, repeating lines, pulling the audience back while reminding them that they are watching a film from a person who made a legend out of himself by breaking the rules, and here he does it again. This peak into a birth of a culture is as raw and truthful a look as anyone could create, the mood is so true to the lifestyle you can nearly feel the breeze of Malibu Beach when the Z-Boys speak. A feeling of relaxation and admiration, quite the opposite feeling that the typical documentary makes you feel. "Dogtown" feels refreshing and is a sigh of relief in this troubled, paranoid, and skeptical genre.
The Z-Boys were a group of kids who hung out at the Zephyr Surf Shop in Venice-Santa Monica. The group of kids that everyone labelled as losers, nobodies and failures would find a passion that would prove them to become hugely famous and influential. When the surf season was quiet, the Z-Boys adopted skateboarding which was regarded as nothing more than a simplistic hobby toy. Using emptied swimming pools as their ocean they surfed concrete waves in ways no one had done before. Their time wasting became the inspiration for thousands around the world for decades to come.
What makes this documentary great is the relaxation of it, set in California with footage of the easy-going 1970's, the Z-Boys tear up the streets, enter skate competitions where they are labelled as misfits, much to the dislike of the simplistic skaters that were considered the norm. "Dogtown" is entertaining, light-hearted and a well intentioned look in to a revolution in American culture. Without the influence of the Z-Boys the skateboard would have likely died in the 80's-90's and vertical skating never adopted. Set to classic rock tunes and with more surely nostalgic archive footage than you could imagine, "Dogtown" at first seems to be light-hearted but by-the-numbers.
Yet, the tribute to this misunderstood sport is surprisingly poetic, the writing narrated by Sean Penn evokes the same sense of cautiously optimistic counter-culture writing of people like Hunter S. Thompson who looked back on their glory days with a sense of pride in their outcast ways. The narration speaks of America as a whole and it's Manifest Destiny colliding with the California culture of surfers and skaters. The film reminisces of a culture long extinct, yet with attitudes that are eternal, giving the film a universal appeal. While it does make mention to the social troubles of being a surfer and the association with junkies and scum, it largely opts for a positive view of this slacker culture, aided by the current-day interviews with former Z-Boys who have all become more mature members of society.
For it's poetic scripting, "Dogtown" doesn't dare go soft on us, the maverick filmmaking created by Peralta includes several unorthodox techniques such as Sean Penn breaking narrative flow through coughs and errors, repeating lines, pulling the audience back while reminding them that they are watching a film from a person who made a legend out of himself by breaking the rules, and here he does it again. This peak into a birth of a culture is as raw and truthful a look as anyone could create, the mood is so true to the lifestyle you can nearly feel the breeze of Malibu Beach when the Z-Boys speak. A feeling of relaxation and admiration, quite the opposite feeling that the typical documentary makes you feel. "Dogtown" feels refreshing and is a sigh of relief in this troubled, paranoid, and skeptical genre.