In New York, the girl has a friendship relationship with a group of girls' skiers. After a long period of isolation, the girl begins to understand the true meaning of the friendship and sacrifices that are evident in those positive relationships. New life and behavior appear for the first time in adolescent life on the outskirts of New York City.
"Skate Kitchen" conveys the simple, exhilarating thrill of daring to claim social space, and proceeding to occupy it, with defiance and ecstatic grace.
There's a sweet nostalgia and important moments, those magical, too brief weeks of summer vacation and the bliss of finally finding a place you belong.
On a skateboard, there's no room for thinking. It's just feeling and doing, which is what makes it such a symbol of emancipation in Crystal Moselle's joyful and wise new film.
Moselle believes in the power of girls. The friendships through which Camille learns how to be loved become the anguish that breaks her heart and the forgiveness that humbly heals her.
They are non-professional actors playing versions of themselves, and the naturalism of their conversations--and of their gliding excursions through the streets of Manhattan--is wonderful.
