RIDE ALONG滑板上的青春
Skate Kitchen is the hidden gem in this year’s Sundance film festival lineup. By KEVIN MA
《滑板少女》是今年辛丹斯電影節的遺珠之作。撰文：馬樂民
AT THE END
of this year’s Sundance film festival, critics were quick to complain that this might have been the weakest edition yet due to a lack of breakout award contenders. But looking at the selection of Sundance titles onboard this month –
Searching, Sorry to Bother You, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Hearts Beat Loud and Skate Kitchen – it’s clear that rumours of Sundance’s decline have been greatly exaggerated.
Skate Kitchen hasn’t found the commercial or critical attention of the other films on the list, but it was one of the festival’s best. It’s the first narrative feature film by Crystal Moselle (director of the excellent 2015 documentary
The Wolfpack). When Moselle spotted Rachelle Vinberg and Nina Moran with their skateboards on the New York City subway, she learned that they were part of an all-female skateboarding crew named Skate Kitchen. Moselle recruited them for That One Day, a fashion brand-sponsored short film starring the Skate Kitchen crew as barely fictionalised versions of themselves.
The feature-length extension of the short film, Skate Kitchen chronicles the everyday lives of the girls, including the sexism they encounter (the crew’s name refers to the misogynistic belief that women belong in the kitchen). Vinberg and her crew aren’t professional actors, but they’re so comfortable with each other onscreen that the film feels like a documentary at times. Cinematographer Shabier Kirchner and his team even shot sequences with handheld cameras on skateboards to immerse viewers in the girls’ perspective.
The result is electrifying. It’s a beautiful, messy and utterly fascinating portrait of youths living with unbridled freedom and unlimited possibilities. It’s a world in which characters can choose to dream big or simply spend their summers skating with zero adult supervision. Skate Kitchen is a film about teenagers that will make anyone over 30 feel old, but it steers clear of typical teen film cliches. Its bold and singular vision make it this year’s festival standout.
今年辛丹斯電影節來到尾聲時，不少影評人均認為，這是歷來最平淡無奇的一屆，缺乏令人 眼前一亮的精采之作。不過再看看本月機上選映的辛丹斯電影：《人肉搜尋》、《扮工室上位攻略》、《性教獄》、《躍動的心跳》及《滑板少女》，每一部都各自各精采，可見外間關於辛丹斯電影節今非昔比的批評，只是誇大之辭而已。
《滑板少女》的確不如上述的電影那樣備受觀眾和影評人注意，但卻是辛丹斯電影節中水準數一數二之作。本片是於 2015年拍出得獎紀錄片《曼克頓影癡部落》的導演 Crystal Moselle首部劇情長片。Moselle在紐約市地下鐵內發現攜著滑板的 Rachelle Vinberg 與 Nina Moran，並得悉兩人是一個全女班滑板團體 Skate Kitchen 的成員。Moselle 對她們大感興趣，更邀請這個少女滑板團拍攝了《That One Day》；這是一部由某時裝品牌贊助製作的短片，主角就是Skate Kitchen眾位成員，片中她們都是演回自己，當中只有輕微的虛構成分。
《滑板少女》將上述短片擴充成長片，故事環繞一眾少女的日常生活發展，括她們經常面對的性別主義（團體的名稱 Skate Kitchen 直譯就是「滑板廚房」，反映一般人對女性的歧視，認為她們只屬於廚房）。Vinberg及滑板團其他成員都不是專業演員，但是她們彼此熟稔，因此在銀幕上的互動十分自然，令影片不時帶有紀錄片 的味道。本片攝影指導 Shabier Kirchner 及攝影團隊在拍攝某些段落時，甚至一面拿著手提攝影機，一面踏著滑板來拍攝，令觀眾更能投入滑板少女們的世界。
結果拍出來的電影激動人心，將青春少女自由奔放的生活與無可限量的未來拍得美麗而率性，而且非常吸引。一眾角色在片中的世界裡可以有遠大的理想，也可以在沒有成年人的監督之下，整個暑假都在玩滑板。《滑板少女》裡面的少女青春正盛，活力充沛，令每個年過 30的人都自覺年華老去，但是影片裡並沒有青春片裡常見的陳腔濫調。大膽而非凡的視野，令本片在今年辛丹斯電影節中顯得別樹一幟。