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Wassup RockersWell, he's finally done it. After years where it looked like he couldn't complete a picture minus underage sex or a man receiving a blow job from his first born, Larry Clark has made what could almost pass for mainstream family entertainment. Sure, there's more drug use, violence and skin than in yer average Hilary Duff movie, but next to the likes of Kids, Bully and Ken Park, Wassup Rockers looks like a John Hughes film.
Minus his more sordid ammunition, you might think a Larry Clark picture would be something of a disappointment. In fact, the absence of incest, anal rape and such like not only makes Wassup Rockers a more pleasurable watch but also draws the audience's attention to Clark's strengths as a writer and director. Indeed, for an old git, he writes some pretty decent teen dialogue. While his skate footage won't give board legend Stacy Peralta too much to worry about, Clark handles the inaction and action that characterise teen life with real aplomb.
Wassup Rockers' focal point is a Latino gang who rule the roost in South Central Los Angeles. Black jean-wearing, punk-adoring er... street punks, it's not enough for these lads and lassies to have the run of the 'hood. So they pick up their skateboards, buy their bus tickets and head for Beverly Hills where the skating's good, the girls are hot and the opportunities for trouble are infinite.
Presumably greenlit following the excitement whipped up by Dogtown And Z-Boys and Lords Of Dogtown, Wassup Rockers will surprise anyone who's solely familiar with skateboarding through those films. With the blue denim giving way to black jeans and the 1970s power rock replaced by nu punk, this is a different breed of skaters. What's more, they like where they live. Indeed, anyone who wolfed down Boyz N The Hood and Menace II Society will be surprised to find that Porky (Panameno), Kiko (Pedrasa) and co feel more threatened in the wealthy avenues of Beverly Hills than they do on the mean streets of South Central
With his almost entirely amateur cast feeling authentic rather than over-awed, Clark has pulled off an incredible volte face. Even those who thought they'd never want to see another Clark movie after Ken Park will find something to like here. As for those old skool Park fans, there should be enough nudity, swearing and drug use to help them last the course. But there's something else here, heart, and it's that which makes Wassup Rockers the director's most arresting film to date.
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