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Dragonslayer
Tristan Patterson (USA, International Spectrum)
Sunday, May 1, 6:45 p.m.
TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 (350 King Street West)
Monday, May 2, 11:45 p.m.
Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor Street West)
Wednesday, May 4, 9:15 p.m.
The Royal Cinema (608 College Street)
Josh “Skreech” Sandoval has a modest following on the international skateboarding circuit, but he’s no star. Tristan Patterson’s debut documentary follows Sandoval as he skates empty swimming pools in Orange Country, struggles to take care of his six-month-old son, gets high, bums smokes, teeters on the verge of poverty, and generally does “skateboard shit.”
Part Larry Clark flick (with a heart), part skate video (without all the skating), Dragonslayer brings the bonds between self-identifying “scumbag” skaters to the fore. As its star, the 23-year-old Skreech proves a complex protagonist, at once charming in a scraggly, bleary eyed way, and vastly unlikable in his sheer childishness and irresponsibility.
Dragonslayer is refreshingly placid, letting Skreech grow on the audience as he slowly careens towards responsibility and buttoned-down domesticity. As a portrait of skate punk culture, it’s tender. But like its subject, Dragonslayer just kind of hangs there, inert. It’s intermittently interesting as a piece of social anthropology, or something. But if you already know what drinking a beer looks like, you probably won’t learn much.