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Review

Perhaps Larry Clark’s most accessible work to date, Wassup Rockers covers a lot of ground in its exploration of a group of L.A. Chicano skateboard punk-rockers. That’s right, “Chicano skateboard punk-rockers.” Here’s a subculture of which most of us were certainly unaware. Clark opens the film with a gritty documentary style introduction to our lead characters as they do what barely-pubescent boys with no adult supervision remotely visible in their lives naturally do: drink beer, make out with girls, and play some seriously good hardcore punk. Clark, employing a group of non-actors, elicits phenomenal and naturalistic performances from his youngsters. Mildly outcast in their own rundown corner of the barrio, the group finds itself on a trek worthy of Odysseus and his men when they decide to go to Beverly Hills for the day. While practicing their aerials in the Beverly Hills High parking lot, they befriend a couple of Paris Hilton-types who seem bent on slumming it and get harassed by L.A.’s finest. This sets off a chain of events that find them in all kinds of places they just shouldn’t be. Suddenly, the hood seems a whole lot more like home, but how do they get out of the myriad fortifications of the rich and famous’ gated communities? It’s a hilarious journey that, even when pock-marked with tragedy, will leave audiences smiling. Clark does everything to ennoble his young protagonists on their heroic voyage and he has a great time presenting their skateboarding trips through all of Los Angeles with a pulsating and invigorating punk rock score. A thoroughly enjoyable treat. (English and Spanish with English subtitles)

 -- Eric Moore