Wassup Skaters, Punks, Hipsters and Rockers
Words: Elizabeth Mixson
On Saturday, June 17th, First Look Studios hosted a free block party and screening in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY in honor of Larry Clark's new film Wassup Rockers. The event kicked off with performances by punk/hardcore acts such as Pissed Jeans, The Films and ARE Weapons interspersed with skateboarding competitions. With the exception of the lackluster ARE Weapons, who kept self-consciously apologizing for being on stage and promising to finish promptly, the music was good and appropriate for the event. Pissed Jeans delivered an especially captivating performance with their acerbic songs and the shrieks of their shirtless lead singer. In between sets, skateboarders, including Wassup Rockers Kico Pedrasa, competed for Best Trick and Highest Ollie in order to win cash prizes.
That evening Wassup Rockers was screened outdoors on a closed off Thames St. to an audience of a couple hundred skaters, punks, hipsters, and locals from the neighborhood all crammed together on tiny benches and the hard cement ground. Despite the uncomfortable seating, the audience seemed to enjoy the atmosphere and to appreciate Clark's newest film. Like a number of his other projects, Wassup Rockers is uneven, yet generally entertaining and provocative. While fictitious, the film -- which chronicles the adventures of seven Latino boys from South Central Los Angeles as they spend the day in Beverly Hills skateboarding and getting into trouble -- is based on the real life experiences of the actors who play themselves. In the ghetto they grew up in, Jonathan, Kico, Spermball, Porky, Eddie, Louie and Carlos all suffer from continuous harassment at the hands of their neighbors and peers who are resentful of the boys' refusal to conform to the "thug" lifestyle. In search of a good time and peaceful skating, the boys venture out to Beverly Hills to skate the famous "Nine Stairs" at Beverly Hills High. However, soon after they hook up with a couple of wealthy Beverly Hills girls, chaos ensues and they must flee from violent rich people who resent them because of their race and apparent socio-economic status.
Though the film is marketed as a serious, intimate and "real" drama concerning the lives of perpetual outsiders, the truly redeeming moments are also comedic and light-hearted. Wassup's heroes are simply good kids who are constantly in the wrong place at the wrong time, and though not exactly talented performers, likable nonetheless. Even while the boys get unnecessarily hassled by a Beverly Hills police officer, in true punk rock spirit, they refuse to cooperate and pretend to brothers, lie about their addresses, steal his lunch and simply act like punks. From LA hipsters to rich and lonely Beverly Hills housewives, the boys come across and must escape a multitude of Beverly Hills residents to get back home to South Central, where at least they know the rules of the game.
Heavy subjects such as murder, racism and poverty abound; however, the film is not nearly as volatile or as engaging as Clark's previous works, Kids and Bully. Though it seemingly attempts to be a personal and up-close glimpse into the real lives of oppressed outsiders, the storyline becomes too outlandish to sustain these ambitions, and almost too predictable to be taken seriously, thereby diminishing the power of the boys' stories into something far less moving and interesting than they could of been.
Wassup Rockers, like the event that accompanied its debut screening, could have been better, but is still engrossing. Despite its faults it is an enjoyable, informative, shocking and, at times, heartbreaking film.
