Director: Marten Persiel.
Starring: David Nathan, Aneeka Schwabe, Kai Hillebrand.
Running Time: 100 minutes.
Certificate: 15.
Synopsis: After the sudden death of their very good childhood friend Panik, a group of Berliners both from the East and West meet up for his funeral and reminisce about his impact on them, their lives, and the importance of the skateboard.
THIS AIN’T CALIFORNIA is divided into small chapters which take us from three friends’ childhood in East Germany to the aftermath of one of their deaths. While a huge celebration for the skateboarding culture, the film covers important topics such as the divided Germany in the 80s, teenage freedom, the reunification and the problems a supposed solution seem to have caused.
There is a great mixture of old footage and illustrations showing the unrecorded but pivotal moments in Panik’s life and interviews. The brilliant music used in the film captures the 80s, skateboarding culture and East Germany perfectly but also the complexity of skateboarding and a depiction of it as an artwork, a political movement, a statement of freedom and a confirmation of identity.
A life of sex, drugs and skateboarding (with the notion that skateboarders were the hottest thing around and that naked women and drugs simply followed it everywhere) shows the sport as an escape from life in the East. It is also made clear in the film how the West was always on the minds of the East, to the point where it was almost an obsession but never the other way around. There is a true beauty in the childhood memories and childhood friendships at the centre of the film, and if there is a lack of interest in the world of skateboarding, these bonds are extremely easy for the audience to relate to.
While it is admirable how the director has been able to create a complete story which seems real and creates sentiment, THIS AIN’T CALIFORNIA is not a documentary. It’s what the director likes to call a ‘documentary tale’. The sentiment is there and so are the feelings, but half of the people and their lives aren’t real. Which, as brilliantly executed as it may have been, takes away from the film.
Despite at times being directionless and a bit dragged out, there may be nothing wrong with the content, fake mystery and lie imposed by the filmmakers, but it is enough for the film to lose its credibility. It’s one step away from perfection, but still remains fascinating and beautiful.
THIS AIN’T CALIFORNIA is released in selected UK cinemas on Friday 6th December.
