![Shred America [Blu-ray]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41R-ey0RkLL.__AC_SX300_SY300_QL70_ML2_.jpg)
Shred America feels less of a film about skateboarding across the country, and more of a triumph of youthful, naïve idealism succeeding despite itself. Watching this film and seeing their journey across the country has twists and turns when something expected to go wrong does go wrong, when something expected to go wrong somehow goes right, and it’s very easy to treat the experience of watching the trip like a backseat chef to a cooking show. Though, that’s why this isn’t called Shred America: The Best Way to Skateboard From Chicago to New York.
That subtitle feels like something that was added in post, that the four, when looking back on their journey may have wondered about other things that they could have done, besides wait a few years for reliable GPS to be invented. Did they really need two of them on bikes to carry the equipment? Couldn’t they have driven a car? Or a van? Or rented an RV? If the skaters needed water, they could just drive ahead, and then drive back. While that line of questioning may be apt, it’s not really the point. This story is about these four kids who had an idea, who had a goal, and they went out and did it.
There are a couple of things that I would’ve like to see from this documentary, a couple of itches that Shred America doesn’t quite scratch. As it stands it focuses on the struggles of the four guys as they skate their way from Chicago to New York, but I feel it focuses too much on the individual problems. It sees the trip as more of a series of obstacles that at times gives it a reality show kind of feel.
Towards the end there’s a part that I felt was particularly special, and that was their time in Philadelphia. Nothing went wrong there. It was more of a calm before the storm that was the road to New York. Instead Shred America treated Philadelphia like an obstacle, it was treated as a landmark city, in which they discussed the problematic history Philadelphia has had with skating, and I wish there was some more of that spread out across the rest of the journey.
As it stands, Shred America is a fun ride that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat, even if it makes you yell at the screen and wonder what the hell these people were thinking and by god, did that work? There’s no reason that should have worked! How? HOW?!
他の国からのトップレビュー
Nicholas V.
A Triumph of youthful idealism despite itself
2020年10月18日にアメリカ合衆国でレビュー済みAmazonで購入
Larrycow
Buy it!
2020年11月6日にアメリカ合衆国でレビュー済みAmazonで購入
