Vérité teen dramas don’t have to be depressing. Documentary filmmaker Crystal Moselle (The Wolfpack) makes her narrative debut with Skate Kitchen, a coming-of-age tale which follows an 18-year-old Long Island native on her journey to both independence and finding her tribe. Apart from conflict with her single mother (Elizabeth Rodriguez, Orange is the New Black), and a little boy drama, nothing horrific happens to Camille (Rachelle Vinberg). Instead, she joins the ranks of the titular girl skate group, and they traverse Manhattan in empowering formation.
The driving drama comes after a board-related trip to the E.R. Camille’s mom tells her she got lucky, and makes her promise to quit skating. Camille tries to get her fix through the Instagram exploits of the Skate Kitchen. But when they post about a “girl’s skate sesh”, Camille can’t help herself. She creates a cover story and makes the long journey into the city to carefully orchestrate a “casual” meet-up with the like-minded ladies. Because Camille’s talent for skating matches her passion, it’s not long before they’re posting videos of Camille’s tricks and welcoming her into the fold…
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I recently had the opportunity to spew my guts out about one of my all-time favorite movies, Wild at Heart, on the Ex-Rated Podcast (so-named because the hosts used to date). Ryan Weadon and Matt Fisher were very fun to talk to about the movie, the Lynchverse, and Nic Cage’s eccentric spending habits, amongst other things. Please give it a listen over at 
Effed by the Wind 