Lance Bangs' "Family Portrait"

Lance Bangs' Family Portrait is an intimate documentary series that delves into the Los Angeles bookstore Family. I've been to this bookstore, and it is AMAZING. If I had a lot more money, I would by half the stuff in there (or more). Unfortunately, Lance has turned off embedding on other sites, so to see it, just head on over to Part 1 on his Vimeo page.

DVD - Wassup Rockers

Larry Clark made a huge splash with his feature film debut, Kids, which courted a lot of controversy upon its release because of its frank depiction of underage characters involved in sex and drugs. He has dredged up some bit of controversy with every film since. His latest, Wassup Rockers, was released to strong critical reviews in 2006, but didn't seem to receive much of a theatrical release. I finally picked it up on DVD the other day, because I had heard so many good words about it. I've haven't seen any of Clark's other films, but I figured this was as good as any to start with. Unfortunately, I think I was wrong.

Wassup Rockers is the story of a group of Latino friends, in South Central Los Angeles, who spend their time listening to punk rock, drinking beer, talking about sex, and, most importantly, skateboarding. Skateboarding is their outlet, their way of getting away from the prejudice they face at their school because of the clothes they wear and the way they look (other kids make fun of them because they wear tight clothes, like rock stars, and wear their hair long). The film follows them, for the most part, for a day as they travel from South Central to Beverly Hills to skateboard, and have numerous "adventures" along the way. 

My problem with this film is that its not really a fictional story, and not really a documentary, and the little story it does have seems pretty trite and cliche. When the boys meet two rich, white, horny girls in school girl outfits, that invite them back to their mansion... I was done. I mean, c'mon! Really? Let's get real. Now the Beverly Hills cop giving them a hassle because of their brown skin? That's a possibility, but a lot of the other things that happen in this film seem ludicrous.

Clark rounded up a group of kids that are actually from South Central, non-actors, to play the part, and the "realism" tends to get a little boring some times. Add, on top of that, a plot line that includes a bunch of ridiculous incidents that we, as an audience, have seen in one way or another (and done much better) in other films, and Wassup Rockers just seems kind of pointless. It doesn't teach me anything new about these kids. Does it surprise me that 13/14/15 year old boys are skating, talking about sex, and listening to music? No. Why would it? Does it surprise me that a bunch of Latino kids suffer racism at the hands of some of the black kids in their neighborhood, or by the LAPD? No. So what's the point? I don't feel, as an audience member, that I saw anything in this movie that was worth my hour and forty minutes.

DVD - Rebel Without A Cause

Rebel Without A Cause is one of those films that is constantly referenced, or quoted, or just generally permeates into pop-culture in some way, shape, or form. It is, arguably, James Deans most popular role, and one of his last. The film starred several other actors who would go on to be huge stars in their own right - Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo, who would both die at relatively young ages (though, not as young as Dean), and Dennis Hopper.

Rebel Without A Cause stars Dean as Jim Stark, a young man who seems to get into endless amounts of trouble for no particular reason. His parents move him from town to town every time Jim gets into trouble with the police, and have landed in Los Angeles (though its never actually called Los Angeles). On his first day of school, he meets Judy (played by Natalie Wood), a young girl who is desperate for love and acceptance, and Plato (Sal Mineo), a young man with a troubled psyche. Judy's boyfriend, Buzz, doesn't approve of Jim, or his flirtations with Judy, and after a fight on a planetarium field trip (starring the gorgeous Griffith Observatory in L.A.), Buzz challenges Jim to a "chickie run", in which two people race stolen cars towards a cliff, and whoever jumps out of their car first, is the chicken. When it all goes down, Jim bails, but Buzz gets caught in his car, and plummets off of the cliff. This opens up a world of hurt for Jim, Judy, and Plato, with both the police, and Buzz's friends, who are now out to kill Jim.

Rebel is an amazing portrait of the boredom of post-war youth. There's nothing wrong with Jim's life, but he has nothing to strive for, no war to be won, no battles to be fought - except to prove that he's not chicken. Judy plays a spot on model of the kind of truth that psychologists were just realizing in the 50's - that young girls crave the acceptance of their fathers, and often times seek that acceptance in other men when they can't get it from their dad's. The character of Plato is interesting because he is constantly re-inventing his world through lie's to gain Jim and, eventually, Judy's acceptance.

Rebel Without A Cause holds, within it, the great mystery of the American teenage psyche. After having watched it, I am thoroughly convinced that, if psychologists could decode Jim's habits, thoughts and feelings, they could figure out a way to bring peace to one of, if not the most, turbulent time in a person's life - the teen years.