For around the first 20 minutes, this debut fiction feature from Crystal Moselle (
The Wolfpack) flirts with greatness, before an unfortunate narrative detour leaves it in the enviable position of being merely really good. Camille (Rachelle Vinberg) is an 18-year-old living with her single mother in Long Island, spending her summer days skateboarding alone—until she finds a posse of other girl skaters via social media, and ventures into the city to connect with her tribe. Moselle brilliantly constructs the male-dominated skate world that frustrates Camille, and Vinberg’s performance is rich with the giddiness of discovering true friendship, as the director complements the character work with a dizzyingly fluid way of capturing these women in exhilarating perpetual motion. It’s disappointing then, that the story detours to focus on Camille’s crush on her grocery store co-worker (Jaden Smith), generating an internal countdown clock to when the inevitable “chicks before dicks” drama will commence. Still, there’s a wealth of visual imagination on display, and a strong exploration of someone deciding if she wants to be one of the guys, one of the girls, or just herself.
By
Scott Renshaw