Film

Skate Kitchen

Name: Skate Kitchen
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: 2018
Cast: Rachelle Vinberg, Dede Lovelace, Nina Moran, Kabrina Adams, Ajani Russell

Coming-of-age

Skate Kitchen is a tender portrait of teenage belonging disguised as a movie about skateboarding. It follows Camille from suburban isolation into New York's fierce, fiercely loving girl skater scene. The film moves at its own pace, luxuriating in friendship and small moments of self-discovery. It's genuinely funny without trying, and wise about the price of growing up. For anyone who's ever felt outside looking in.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like loose, observational coming-of-age films where the pleasure is in watching a new group of friends find their rhythm, skating and hanging out in New York rather than chasing a tight plot.

Skip it if you need a clear narrative engine, since this drifts through hangouts, boards and bruised confidence with little urgency and may feel meandering over its 106 minutes.

What it asks of you: Settle in for long, unhurried stretches of observation, loose in shape and unpolished, where the scenes matter more than the momentum.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

mid90s2018

Jonah Hill's directorial debut captures the same documentary-like intimacy of a subculture—skateboarding again, but through boys' eyes. It has the same loose, observational pacing and understands that these worlds matter because the friendships do.

But It's considerably rougher in tone and content, with drug use and casual cruelty that make it a very different film. Some find its meandering structure frustrating.

The Fits2016

Another film about a girl entering an insular, physical community (synchronized dance) and discovering herself through it. It shares Skate Kitchen's patience with silence and its understanding of how bodies communicate what words cannot.

But It's more austere and abstract than Skate Kitchen, more interested in mood than narrative. The ending divides people.

Eighth Grade2018

Bo Burnham's film about a girl navigating the gap between who she is and who she wants to be. Like Skate Kitchen, it trusts awkwardness and small moments to tell you everything about adolescent yearning and self-invention.

But It's uncomfortably intimate about social media anxiety and parental love. Some find it too emphatically cringe.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Skate Kitchen

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Pose2018

Both center communities defined by style, movement, and chosen family. Both understand that 'subculture' is often just what society calls dignity when it comes from the wrong place.

The ballroom voguing community of 1980s New York, where chosen family and fierce beauty are survival. It has Skate Kitchen's understanding that marginalized communities create art and love in the spaces mainstream society leaves empty.

But It's a television series with multiple seasons, not a film. The tone is bigger, more theatrical, more operatic than Skate Kitchen's quiet observations.

Never Goin' Back2018

Two teenage girls, authentic friendship, no condescension from the camera, real dialogue that makes you laugh. It has the same loose, slice-of-life energy and genuine affection for its characters.

But It's chaotic and messier in plot than Skate Kitchen. The humor is broader and occasionally crude.

Gidget1959

The ancestor of this story—a girl enters a male-dominated world (surfing) and finds community and identity. It has the same DNA of subculture-as-coming-of-age, just at a different temperature and era.

But It's lightweight and dated in ways that matter. The gender politics are distinctly of 1959.

The Florida Project2017

Sean Baker observes children and families on the margins of Orlando with such kindness and attention. Like Skate Kitchen, it finds profundity in ordinary moments and relationships that sustain people through precarious lives.

But It's heavier and more socially conscious. There's real poverty and desperation underneath, which darkens the tone considerably.

Wassup Rockers2005

Larry Clark's film about young skateboarders navigating Los Angeles finds real humor and genuine friendship in the lives of kids society overlooks. It has Skate Kitchen's documentary feel and respect for its subjects.

But Clark's vision is rawer and more provocative. The class and race dynamics are sharper and sometimes uncomfortable.

We Are Your Friends2015

It's about young people finding themselves in electronic music culture, with Zac Efron bringing unexpected depth to a character learning what he actually wants. The subculture immersion has real stakes and genuine affection.

But The plot is more conventional than Skate Kitchen and the romance subplot feels obligatory. Some of the characterization falls into cliché.

Dazed and Confused1993

Richard Linklater's ensemble captures the feeling of existing in a moment, with a specific community, without needing much plot. Its loose, hangout quality and affection for its young characters is ancestral to Skate Kitchen's approach.

But It's dated in significant ways, heavy with nostalgia, and some of the humor hasn't aged well. Much longer and more aimless.

Aftersun2022

Both films trust the camera to observe rather than explain. Both understand that the deepest moments are often the quietest, and that becoming yourself always involves loss as well as gain.

A film about a father and daughter on holiday that gradually becomes about memory, loss, and the impossibility of truly knowing another person. It shares Skate Kitchen's willingness to let emotion live in gesture and unsaid things, its faith in silence.

But It's much darker, much more about grief and aging than youth. There's almost no plot. Some find it precious or obscure.