Hill Street
Director: JJ Rolfe
★★★ (out of five)
JJ ROLFE’S Hill Street meanwhile, exposes the struggles of teenaged life from a different angle, doing for the cult exercise of skateboarding what Sue Bourne’s Jig (2011) did for Irish dancing.
It’s a fine expositional documentary that dips into a world of specialised human activity and opens it up for general interest.
Blending the recollections of enthusiasts with archive film footage, Rolfe tells the history of how Irish skateboarders fought (sometimes literally) for their right to party.
Latching onto the new toy craze in the early 1980s, a bunch of young Dubliners caught the bug and congregated at select locations (“spots”), perfecting their skills, spinning their wheels while leaping in mid-air and trying to land without breaking their necks.
The energy for this new vibration gradually centred on the rough-and-tough area of Hill Street Flats, where Clive Rowen (the godfather of Irish skateboarders) opened Ireland’s first skateboarding outlet.
“Occasionally kids came running in the door chased by a local mob,” Rowen recalls. “It wasn’t the friendliest part of town,” smiles Shaggy, one of the skateboarding ‘veterans’ Rolfe interviews (he’s about 40). “We were complete weirdos as north Dubliners saw us,” adds Mike Keane, another pioneer.
Yet Rowen’s shop became for Dublin’s skateboarders what the CBGB’s nightclub was for 1970s New York musicians — a mini Mecca. Lads as young as 11 would journey there to buy their gear: “You’d hope to God you didn’t get robbed on the way,” recalls Wayne Gallagher.
Local authorities were no more welcoming. Dublin City Council was originally petitioned to build a skateboard park in 1986, and erected the first in 2004. “They thought it was a passing fad,” Rowen explains. Today Ireland has 35 skateboard parks.
Rolfe’s film illustrates how a craze became a sport (applications are in for the 2020 Olympics) and shows many breath-taking and some winch-inducing images.
However, it doesn’t explain why all the participants are male (without exception), nor the seemingly addictive aspects of the phenomenon and its possibilities as an alternative to narcotics. Still, both experts and casual viewers alike will find this a thoroughly enjoyable, informative and intriguing portrait.
Hill Street is available on DVD or VOD from June 2
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