Skateland

Anthony Burns makes his directorial debut with this aimless coming-of-age tale, which happens to be about an equally aimless hero; Ritchie never really takes any action of his own. The movie tries to capture the mood of a time and place, but instead the scenes feel arbitrary and sometimes even pointless. Even the camera never seems certain about being in the right place. Some shots appear to have been captured accidentally or randomly.

SKATELAND has an interesting sub-theme with its female characters: Ritchie's mother splits up from his dad and gets her own apartment, and his younger sister is a take-charge kind of girl. Most of these women appear to be asserting their independence for the first time, but at the same time, the movie allows its male characters to ogle and objectify other female characters. Ultimately, while some of the movie's period details don't seem quite right, it's certainly realistic. But the lesson here is that realism doesn't necessarily translate into interesting cinema.