Fruit of the Vine

Since the resurgence of the skateboard subculture in the mid 1970s, a favorite ritual has been turning empty swimming pools into the ultimate concrete wave. Shot on wonderfully grainy, muted and minimally-processed Super 8mm film, Coan Nichols and Rick Charnoski's Fruit of the Vine provides a respectful, arty look at modern pool riders, who are depicted as surprisingly polite for an activity that requires a fair amount of breaking and entering. Empty pools (mostly in Southern California, but spread throughout the U.S.) on occupied and unoccupied properties in all types of neighborhoods are painstakingly searched out. Often, the skaters find water and putrid filth (in one case, according to the DVD's liner notes, a dead pit bull) left in the deep end, and use any means at their disposal (including a bucket brigade) to prep the pool for a ride--which sometimes lasts a mere 20 minutes before the authorities arrive to show the skaters the door. Through the filmmakers' eyes, these instances of juvenile trespassing (although the skaters often do seek permission) are nearly transformed into heroic acts of reinvention of otherwise decaying voids in the ground. Featuring additional uncut interviews and outtakes on the DVD, the unrated Fruit of the Vine contains (not surprisingly) some street language. Sure to be popular with fans of the similarly-themed Dogtown and Z-Boys (VL-7/02), this is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: P. (C. Block)