Skater girls on a roll
STORYLINE: ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS, WOMEN SUPPORTING EACH OTHER
HBO series Betty has characters who are fun to hang with.
HBO’s new six-episode skater-girl series, Betty, is currently ranked at number 21 on Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the “Best TV Shows Of 2020 So Far”.
It was to be expected since the series is also based on Crystal Moselle’s critically acclaimed feature film, Skate Kitchen, which was inspired by a real group of female skaters based in New York who call themselves “Skate Kitchen”.
For Betty, HBO has given freedom to further explore her cast of characters with a series that brings back tomboy shredder Camille (played by Rachelle Vinberg), stoner Kirt (played by Nina Moran) and weed peddler Indigo (played by Ajani Russell).
But does the series live up to the substantive and stylishly cinematic benchmark created by its forebearer?
We’d like to think so. But don’t take our word for it. The series already has a 95% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ barkers about the show range from “earnest” to “audacious” and “effortlessly cool”.
Those of us familiar with Moselle’s work will remember that her debut documentary, Wolfpack, earned her the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, Best Documentary at Edinburgh and a Cinema Eye Honours Award, as well as an MTV Movie Awards Best Documentary nomination.
Hot on the heels of this success, in 2018 she earned a Best of Next nomination at Sundance and an Honourable Mention at Outfest for her unforgettable Skate Kitchen feature.
In an HBO interview, Moselle says: “The term ‘Betty’ in the skate world has gone through these different transformations. At one point a ‘Skate Betty’ was a girl who skateboarded. Then it was a girl who hung out with skateboard dudes. We’re reclaiming the term and making it our own.”
She says she has not seen a show on television that shows a group of women fighting the patriarchy in a very authentic male-dominated subculture.
As Moselle says; “It’s almost like a dance movie, but it’s skateboarding.”
If you’ve never picked up a skateboard before, don’t be put off. “Skateboarding is the backdrop but really it’s about relationships and women supporting each other,” says Moselle.
“Above all else, the show is a spunky, infectious tale of community … brazen and delightfully gruesome at times.”