Dragonslayer
Tristan Patterson:
Dragonslayer (USA, 2011)
74 min. - English
age limit 12 years
Director Tristan Patterson describes first meeting Josh “Skreech” Sandoval, the leading man of his film: “I met him at a party in Chino. He had a lime-green mohawk and a matching t-shirt advertising an unreleased punk band. He looked undernourished and lost and said he had taken five tabs of acid. He was impossible to talk to. Then I saw him skate.”
Dragonslayer is a true discovery. The indie gem awarded at South by Southwest tells about Skreech, a skate legend on a wavelength all his own, but also a new father whose eternal summer is about to collide with the future. There is more to be done than partying and skateboarding in abandoned swimming pools in run-down suburbs under the golden skies of California. But what? And more importantly: how?
The award-winning and painfully beautiful Dragonslayer is a manifest for youth, love, survival and skateboarding in the arms of the crumpling society and dismal future. The soundtrack is filled with stylish indie rock, and Patterson's filming is both edgy and insightful. Through Skreech's personality Patterson manages to portray the flipside of the American dream that can be seen on the pages of skate magazines – the lost and intoxicated young man living the last moments of eternal youth.
See also:
» Marten Persiel: This Ain’t California
» Stacy Peralta: Bones Brigade: An Autobiography
» Alex Hammond, Ian Markiewich: Better Than Something: Jay Reatard
» Marten Persiel: This Ain’t California
» Stacy Peralta: Bones Brigade: An Autobiography
» Alex Hammond, Ian Markiewich: Better Than Something: Jay Reatard
Sat 17th Nov at 5:00pm Tapio 3