Machotaildrop

On the good feelings I got from a review in the Globe, and went to see this indie movie at the Royal Theatre on College Street.



College street was a pretty posh place late at night and the Royal was a very small but good looking theatre, which shows a lot of indie and second run movies. Very clean little place, and the interior featured statues in alcoves beside the screen, a curtain, and a table among the seats in the theatre; as if it were the place a casting director would be sitting during auditions.



Machotaildrop is a skateboarding movie that does not suck. Or at least that's one the selling points. It was at TIFF last year, but wasn't one of the few movies I saw.

Walter Rhum (Anthony Amedori) is a kid who's grown up idolizing the popular and famous skateboarders of the Machotaildrop franchise. His dream of becoming a big-time professional skater himself are seemingly answered when his gold spray painted audition tape catches the eyes the Baron the Richard Branson-like owner of Machotaildrop, and Walter is whisked away from the drugery of hanging around the local Cake n' Skate. (A store that sells skateboards and cake… or pastries on skateboards, I'm not clear about that)

Walter Rhum's first experiences with Machotaildrop make it seem like he's fallen down the rabbit hole or gone off to Hogwart's. The entrance to the Machotaildrop grounds is a door in a hillside leading to a cave with an electric train which ferries him out to a grand country estate. Perkins is a gruff manservant in a hood with a strange interest in birds, the Baron is either enigmatic or nutty, and Dr. Mansfred is as creepy as his name suggests. Walter also quickly finds a rival in his personal idol Blair Stanley. There are also various other skaters and servants on the grounds. But they are mostly not important or named.



The movie thrives on the strangeness and wackyness of the setting with such great elements as the crazy Machotaildrop arcade game, the half-pipe challenge, (Done with all the grace and fashion of a 19th century duel) and the silly costumes the skateboarders are expected to wear.

The story follows Walter's rise to greatness, despite Walter conspicuously not doing all that much to earn it. This I'm sure is a nod to the undercurrent of anti-commercialism in the movie. He's just the new product for Machotaildrop to sell. While this is not a serious movie, it's clear that there's something said here about commercialism and exploitation.

The Baron; mannerisms aside, is probably best summed up by his unflagging interest in selling merchandise, and his own need to once again become an athletic star. (He used to be a tight-rope walker) The former drives the plot, and the latter dovetails with Walter's growing insecurities.

The Baron is a criminal capitalist, taking advantage of his employees, stealing culture and property to build his commercial empire in addition to sucking the soul out of the sport he promotes. Everything comes to a head when the Baron begins encroaching on the territory of feral skateboarders and Walter begins to rebel against his place in the business.




The main star acts much in a the way a teenager…might act. He's kind of lifeless and one-note, but good enough not be a trial. He does best when he's not the straight man: When he's the too-sincere host of the Machotaildrop show, "Finding the Spot," (and dressed like a Victorian age British explorer) and when he's on goofballs during a strange and uncomfortable press conference. These are short sequences though. I liked him all the same though.

Blair Stanley is an excellent character. He comes across at times as a mentor, and other times jealous. Sometimes petty and sometimes wise. He's scripted well, and acted well. He occasionally is seen clutching onto his own bust, given to him by Machotaildrop as a symbol of his commerical status, and when he loses it, it's almost Shakespearean in it's gloriously incoherent drama.

The Feral skateboarders are led by a guy who I swear seemed like the love child of the beatneck thug from Matinee and Gollum from Lord of the Rings. He and his feral counterparts have a blast overacting a prancing about. Their terrorist style response video to the Baron's encroachments is very amusing for both the pratfalls and the sincerity.

The movie is fun, easily very unique, and had a good score. But as unique and fun as this can be, the movie is not without flaws. I wish the soundtrack has stuck more with the curious and classy string oriented score, and avoided easily licensed indie music. One character; Sophie the librarian, seemed to offer little to the movie other than to be a (very) minor romantic interest for Walter and act as an agent provocateur for him. I also felt that the movie was unable to truly realise much of it's ambitions. A final showdown with feral skateboarders should have been perhaps more epic or crazy. A rise to stardom should be accompanied by screaming fans --none were ever seen as almost all of the action takes place in isolated grounds. Many of the extras, the factory workers and the skaters are seemingly important to the story but never seem to say or do anything. They're almost props.

Though there were no big holes in what was on screen, it still was clear that this could have been a better movie it more funds were available. There were scenes that I felt should have been revisited or that could have amounted to more.




Upon my exiting the movie, I noticed this poster:





Previously I had heard of this from one of Cracked's lists of horrendous movies, and I felt like I should check it out. Why see such a bad movie? As I suggested to Stephen; if one would pay $10 to find out if there's a God, I think it's a fair deal to spend $10 to find out if there's a Satan. I've heard this movie may be bad enough to make the case for it.

Unfortunately, the next screening was on Saturday, so I can't go. But it may be screening monthly, so I'll have to check again later.