‘Skate Kitchen’ and ‘Betty’: Answering the Call
For Camille (Rachelle Vinberg), the call came on Instagram. Sitting and scrolling through the social media app on her couch, a post from the Skate Kitchen account catches her attention. The post is promoting an all girl skate session in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Camille quickly looks up the subway directions, not even a recent injury or her mother’s disapproval stopping her from skateboarding. Both of Crystal Moselle’s collaborations with skateboarding group The Skate Kitchen, ‘Skate Kitchen’ and the HBO spin-off series ‘Betty’ seem preoccupied with the idea of building community from both the perspective of those calling out and those answering.
As a viewer unfamiliar with the world of skateboarding, I entered it along with Camille. At first, she is skating alone in a park full of guys when her board slips from under her and cuts the inside of her thigh. With blood streaming down her leg, one of the boys teases Camille asking if she has her period. After a quick trip to the hospital to get some stitches, her mother forbids her from skating. It is at this moment Camille sees the Instagram post and decides to join the other girls skating in New York.
After traveling from Long Island, Camille finds the skate park and joins the girls for their skating session. The Skate Kitchen girls are extremely welcoming, embracing Camille without hesitation. It is hard not to fall for this film. The montages of the girls skating around the LES, the transcendent summer soundtrack, and the kind of adventure and friendship I’m particularly craving after months of sitting inside and missing New York City all add up to an irresistible atmosphere. On their second outing together, the girls skate on a basketball court near the river, the sun setting beside them. They are stoned and talking about the Mandela effect, but they could be talking about anything. The magic of seeing these girls kill time together is the central joy of the film. While Camille is still a bit awkward and hesitant, you can feel her start to open as she longingly watches from the sidelines.
It is the fourth or fifth time I’ve seen this film, yet I am crying like it’s the first. Sitting in my childhood bedroom in Illinois with my apartment in New York City far away, I am longing for a carefree summer in the city with my friends. As the girls on screen run around the neighborhoods I used to call home, I feel like a melancholic fly-on-the-wall, equally ready to jump through the screen and distance myself, using the film as a vessel for mourning the senior year spring in New York that was taken away from me.
As the girls sit in the grass, their bodies overlapping, Camille says, “For a while, I was feeling really lonely and it’s like that loneliness you have even if you’re in a crowded room with people smiling and laughing and that emptiness, I was just feeling it for so long. But I don’t feel it anymore.” The girls put bracelets on Camille’s wrist and a montage of her skating alone plays with Aska Matsumiya’s luscious score, saying everything that Camille cannot. In the following scene, the girls have a conversation in Janay’s (Ardelia Lovelace) room. They discuss tampons and trips to the gynecologist, which leads Camille to bring up her injury from the beginning of the film. Janay reacts right away, saying Camille got “Credit Carded.” Not only do the others validate and name her experience, they say she is brave for going through it.
But by the end of the scene, the film goes through a tonal shift, hinting at the drama to come. Janay asks Camille what her ‘type’ is. She seems instantly uncomfortable and avoids answering the questions before saying she likes boys. On this front, Camille exists in opposition with the group, fearing she lacks the experience and desire for a relationship that is expected amongst young people, especially teenage girls.
For the second half of the film, Camille distances herself from the group as she gets closer to Devon (Jaden Smith), a skater who often hangs out at the park with his camera. When all the girls go to a warehouse party, Camille finds herself stoned in the corner while Kurt (Nina Moran) and some strangers all make out together in front of her. Camille escapes to the roof and finds Devon. They have an awkward conversation and Camille leaves. As her and Devon grow closer, it is hard to tell what Camille wants from him. She seems to simply have fun hanging with the guys, and feels validated when she impresses them with her skating. She starts leaving the girls behind to become the sole girl in a group full of guys. While it is easy to tell Camille likes Devon, the entire time it feels that she wants him because she thinks she is supposed to. Devon and Camille get along, but there is something slightly inorganic in the way they interact until an awkward kiss fizzles everything out. Even though nothing really happens between them, Janay feels betrayed because she used to date Devon. Camille’s quest to impress the group by having typical teenage experiences backfired.
While the film’s ending is clear from the start, Moselle’s slight twist on the summer coming-of-age drama finds power in the way it re-imagines teenage girlhood. Instead of creating a typical teenage summer romance, ‘Skate Kitchen’ creates a portrait of Camille’s struggle to accept that her desires are different. She tries hard to want what she thinks she should, but her strongest wish is for community. While Moselle shows this concretely with the Instagram post that starts Camille’s journey, the film explores what it means to physically take up space in a male dominated environment. When Camille is skating with Devon and the guys, they pass a young girl holding her mom’s hand. As the boys skate by, the young girl barely sees them. But when Camille passes her, she turns around and gazes in wonder. A community can be built by sending out the call on Instragram, but at this moment the young girl receives a call from Camille in the form of her very existence as a female skating in the city. I’d like to think this girl eventually begs her parents for a board when she is old enough and finds her own group.
My nostalgic rewatch of ‘Skate Kitchen’ was fueled by my excitement for the follow up series ‘Betty’ on HBO. While I expected Moselle’s second collaboration with The Skate Kitchen to begin where the film ended, ‘Betty’ instead tells the foundational story of the group and further emphasizes community and the concept of sending out the call. In contrast to Skate Kitchen’s dramatic tone, Moselle’s series is fairly comedic and still in touch with the core energy of the cast. In the first episode, Kurt is on her way to meet Janay for their first all girl skate session. Instead of posting on social media, Kurt relies on word of mouth to spread word of the meet-up. No one shows up. By circumstance, they meet Camille and then find Honeybear (Kabrina Adams) with her camera.
It all feels a bit weird at first, imagining a world in which the tight knit group I love does not yet exist. But it is also a luxury to watch it be reborn. In the half hour episodes, the girls run around the city, lose multiple items, and skate after dark. They gain more girls along the way. And yet again, Camille breaks from the group to impress a skater boy. Bambi (Edmund Donovan) recognizes Camille’s talent and seems a bit more mature than the other guys at the park. It starts to seem that Camille is fated to make the same mistake. As I wonder where the show is headed, I am just happy to spend more time with this cast. Their summer becomes my summer because my summer does not truly exist. Janay comes to terms with the behavior of her friend and ex-boyfriend Donald (Caleb Eberhardt). Honeybear embraces a summer fling, and Kurt plays with rats and does mushrooms. While the misadventures of the girls can feel straight from a sitcom, Moselle’s aesthetic makes me long for New York City and reminds me of the best parts of ‘Skate Kitchen’.
While the initial call for community that begins the series goes out of focus for most of the season, the final episode delivers one of the most satisfying endings of the year. At the beginning of the finale, Camille is skating alone on the street when she spots a little girl watching her. She starts teaching the young girl how to skate when Kurt shows up and helps her place the girl’s feet correctly on the skateboard. Soon enough, the girl’s father comes and takes her away, shaming Camille and Kurt for touching his daughter. This moment prompts the girls to host another all girl skate session. Learning from their initial mistakes, Kurt and company work hard to promote another all girl skate session. They post online and frantically hand out flyers to all girls passing by.
Janay is shocked when she arrives at the skate session and the park is filled with girls of all ages skating together. The group leaves the park and the final montage consists of all the girls skating together across a bridge, taking over the streets. Girls of all backgrounds and body types float on the pavement, freer than ever. In the last moments, a skateboard is left outside the home of the little girl from the start of the episode, which she looks at with all the light and love in the world. It is so fun to watch a show get it so damn right. While we are all inside our homes, longing to spend time outside, the power of roaming free is present throughout the show. The girls have the ability to skate and stumble until adventure arrives.
While ‘Betty’ stands alone, Moselle expands upon ideas foundational to ‘Skate Kitchen’. Camille’s story with Bambi mirrors her disappointment and confusion with Devon. Kurt is more devoted than ever to bringing more girls into skating. Janay finds an ally in another woman after initially dismissing and insulting her. Sisterhood stands above all. While Moselle never tries to define male skaters as good or bad, it is clear that solidarity among women is what the series and all its moments of joy is built upon. With a second season in the future, we will come to see what Moselle does with this established girl group. – Hannah Benson
‘Skate Kitchen’ is now available to rent and purchase on VOD. ‘Betty’ is currently airing on HBO and has been picked up for a second season.