Wassup Rockers
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DVD details
Actor: Eddie Velasquez, Francisco Pedrasa, Jonathan Velasquez, Milton Velasquez, Yunior Usualdo PanamenoBrand: First Look Pictures
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 111 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-11-21
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: First Look Pictures
DVD Reviews of Wassup Rockers
DVD Review: Clark's Tamest Still Packs A Punch
Summary: 3 Stars
What do Paris Hilton and the 70s cult classic 'The Warriors' have in common? Some people find them trashy, while others enjoy them as guilty pleasures. Larry Clark finds them inspirational. Both served as his biggest influences when writing the script for 'Wassup Rockers'. Fascinated by the sexual exploits of Paris and lil' sis Nicki, Clark wondered what it would be like if the sisters made their way to the ghettoes of South Central L.A., laid eyes on a group of hot Salvadorean skateboarders and brought them home to their mansion to have sex with. 'The Warriors' angle kicks in after their tryst gets interrupted by an angry brother/father who beats the hell out of the boys and chases them out of the house leaving them stranded in the rich and prejudiced part of town a long ways from their own humble homes. All of this is explained more in-depth in Clark's commentary track on the DVD.
6 Latino skateboarders/punk rockers skip school one summer afternoon and venture to suburban L.A. where they plan on practicing tricks on the steps of a private high school. Traveling in a stolen car, it doesn't take long for the boys to be pulled over by a pair of cops. These cops, punk fans themselves, let them off with a warning. After they make it to the school and suffer a few nasty wipeouts, they attract the attention of a pair of sexy white girls (their words). The girls invite them back to their mansion but the boys are reluctant to go. They quickly change their minds after fleeing from a campus cop who stopped and harassed them. In the ensuing chase one of the 6 gets left behind. The other 5 happen upon the mansion and quickly make themselves at home. While some skate out back, others head upstairs to the girls' bedrooms to get better acquainted. Their intimate moment is rudely interrupted when the girls' preppy brother and his pals show up and beat the crap out of one of the boys and throws another one out the window and into the pool. Making a quick escape, the 5 find themselves frightened and alone in the suburbs desperate to make it back home safe. They hop fences and wander through one backyard after another in a desperate attempt to make it back to the ghetto. Each backyard brings new eccentrics for the boys to encounter. This includes a gay designer who almost molests one of them, a drunk socialite (Janice Dickinson) who offers to give another one a bath and, most frightening of all, a Hollywood legend (supposedly based on Clint Eastwood according to the commentary) who's a racist gun owner who shoots at the boys as they attempt to hop his fence after escaping from the designer. Needless to say not all of these encounters end well for the boys or the homeowners. The film does have some violence and disturbing moments, but nowhere near the levels of other Clark films. It's a refreshing change of pace. Clark's usual gritty approach wouldn't have worked here anyways since these are probably the most decent kids in any of his films. Sure they drink and have sex and play rough but these kids aren't looking for trouble since they have enough of that back home. An average day for them includes getting jumped at school and being shot at by gang members on their street corners. All they want out of life is to be able to skateboard, play their music loud and be accepted for it. The film's best scene features a character named Keiko explaining this far more eloquently to one of the white girls.
The DVD artwork goes out of its way to compare this film to 'KIDS' since it's the 10 year anniversary of Clark's groundbreaking directorial debut but, as mentioned before, this film isn't in the same league as 'KIDS'. For an R rated film there's a very minor amount of sex, drugs and violence. 'Wassup Rockers' is a film about a group of fun loving kids who dream of escaping their violent environment and finding acceptance from someone outside their circle. The kids in 'KIDS' seemed far too content raping, sleeping around, getting high and starting fights with random strangers to change. These kids are actively trying to change their lives and their surroundings. All of this adds up to one of the most refreshing and enjoyable films in Larry Clark's filmography. 'Wassup Rockers' is a film about hope.
Description of Wassup Rockers
WASSUP ROCKERS - DVD MovieAwkward title aside, Wassup Rockers is Larry Clark on good vibes. For his fifth feature, the photographer-turned-filmmaker turns his lens towards a close-knit band of Latino teens. They dress like the Ramones (long hair, tight jeans) and crank out a brand of hardcore that suggests early Suicidal Tendencies--mostly, they live to surf the sidewalks of LA. The central rocker is 15-year-old Jonathan (Jonathan Velasquez, rough but charming). He's joined by Milton, Kico, Eddie, Porky, Louie, and Carlos (like Velasquez, all non-professionals). As unlikely as it may sound, the storyline parallels The Swimmer and The Warriors in that their goal is to get from one end of town to the other, i.e. from Beverly Hills to South Central. (The obstacles have changed, but the objective remains the same.) Critics have painted Wassup Rockers as lighter than previous Clark pictures, and they?ve got a point, but it's a relative term. The movie does, after all, open with a murder, and the MPAA slapped it with an R for pervasive language and sexual content. Well, he may not come from their world, but Clark couldn't be more sympathetic towards his protagonists. If anything, he's too hard on the Caucasian characters, many of whom are fairly reprehensible--one of the film's major missteps. Of course, there are also a few obligatory shots of bare-chested boys (a Clark trademark), but his gaze is less voyeuristic than before. For the most part, Wassup Rockers is as exhilarating and, yes, life affirming as cinema can get. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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