(DVD REVIEW) SKATELAND

Remember that time in your life when you were kind of unsure what to do next. That year/summer/day/hour when you didn't know if you should turn left or right and didn't know what would happen when/if you did turn at all? That confusing time between doing what you have always done, with the people that you have always known, and taking taking the next step in your life? Between high school and college? Part time and full time work? Well, imagine someone followed you around with a camera and made a movie about it.

PLOT: Ritchie (Fernandez) is at the end of his high school days. He is finishing school, his job is coming to an end due to the business being sold, and his relationships with some of his friends/family are starting to change. In other words, Ritchie is growing up. The problem with growing up is that you have to take responsibility for your actions. When those actions include problems at home (because of a broken marriage), problems with friends, (because of local "thugs" that are at odds with an old friend of his) or problems with girls (when longtime friendships become more than "just friends") Ritchie finds that taking the next step is a lot harder than he would like for it to be. So he holds on to the summer....tries to freeze it in time. But when events in his life force him to take the next step, he must do his best to ensure that it is not his last.

Thoughts? The movie is pretty good. Not, in my opinion, worth all of the praise that it got on the indie circuit. But easily worth a look-see on Netflix. I say watch it, but don't break your neck to make time to do so.