‘The Kids’
I’ve always been familiar with the 1995 cult classic “Kids.” It’s a depiction of a community of skater teens in New York over a day of exaggerated debauchery, only thinking of sex, skating and more sex. Upon its release in 1995, some wondered if it was actually a documentary since it was so authentic.
That’s one aspect explored in Eddie Martin’s new documentary “The Kids,” which recently premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film was spearheaded by one of the film’s original stars Hamilton Harris. You may remember him from the film as teaching a whole new generation how to roll a blunt. Harris is an integral voice for the doc, as he also produces and co-writes the documentary.
The documentary touches on how the original film came together. It also shows what happened after the film and what happened to some of the stars. For example, “Kids” was a financial success that launched the careers of certain stars like Rosario Dawson and Chloë Sevigny. However, it left others with only some cash compensation and limited success in the film world.
A beautiful celebration of life
It’s heartbreaking in many ways as Hamilton Harris brings us through this journey. Much of the film’s honesty and emotion comes from remembering the lives of stars Justin Pierce and Harold Hunter. Remembering them also helps the film become a beautiful celebration of life, and love letter, to the memory of them.
Learning about certain trivia, it’s great for someone like me who isn’t a fan of the original film, but I am a fan of this documentary. I can only imagine how cool this doc would be for those who are fans of the original film, or who grew up in New York at the time.
That’s the coolest part about “The Kids.” It’s a real treat learning about who these actors are as people and how important this community was for them at the time. This is especially the case with how important Harold Hunter was to this community. We see that when Harold would bring someone new into the friend group, the community would approve, as well, because Harold’s opinion meant so much.
There are a lot more emotional surprises in the film I wouldn’t spoil, and the breadth of information Eddie Martin and Hamilton Harris share paints such an expansive picture. It’s also so important how Harris himself gets vulnerable – telling us he got his first skateboard by buying one piece for the board each month for six months, until he eventually had his whole skateboard. Moments like these truly shows how much these kids loved skateboarding; and that love is contagious in “The Kids.”
‘The Kids’ premiered as part of the Tribeca Film Festival on June 11.
‘Blind Ambition’
In Warwick Ross and Robert Coe’s “Blind Ambition,” four Zimbabweans create the first Zimbabwe team to compete at the World Blind Wine Tasting Championships. Before depicting the competition, the film tracks the journey of these four men – Joseph Dhafana, Pardon Taguzu, Tinashe Nyamudoka and Marlvin Gwese – all leaving their home country of Zimbabwe for a better life in South Africa.
It’s a lovely thing that they wanted to represent Zimbabwe because of their national pride, instead of simply joining the South African team. I wasn’t expecting such a focus on learning where these men came from and their journey from Zimbabwe to South Africa, but this aspect is welcome because it’s such an integral part of these men.
I found the road to the competition more interesting, especially seeing their training and the obstacles they overcame to get there. They’re so likable that when I was watching, I was excited gearing up for the competition. The introduction of a coach named Denis also creates such a fun and frustrating dynamic. He’s a wild card and that’s refreshing for a documentary. This is especially because he would likely be the mid-point conflict of any narrative sports film. However, this is real life and they have to deal with his unpredictability at the time.
Their passion for wine
I love the premise of this documentary as it mixes sports and human interest. Mind you, this isn’t really a sport even if the competition is considered the Olympics of the wine world. However, the preparation and months of training for this competition makes it seem like a sport. It’s great, too, meeting the other teams at the competition and learning about that community.
For Team Zimbabwe, I loved seeing their passion for wine grow. That made me passionate about wine for these 96 minutes. It’s so interesting, too, seeing how they think about wine and how they can know exactly where a wine is from just because of what they’ve studied, even if they’ve never been to that country. It’s delightful to watch. As they become immersed in this wine world, directors Warwick Ross and Robert Coe (who both share writing credits with Paul Murphy and Madeline Ross) completely immerse us in their world with “Blind Ambition.”
‘Blind Ambition’ premiered at Tribeca Film Festival on June 10.
