Ellen Isaacs

I agree, it was artfully done, a touching portrayal of male friendship and family devotion (to the grandfather). And a primer of skate boarding. Otherwise, I found it disturbing in several respects. While focusing on gentrification, environmental racism, and inequality, it provided only cynicism. The young black men who provided the "chorus" were portrayed as idle, combative, purposeless, and used the N word obsessively - more a negative stereotype than a chorus, to me. Only near the end were two humanized a bit. The white couple, the present owners of the house in question, never even inquired why the young men were interested in it. When defeated by the real estate industry, the main character rows out to sea in an apparently suicidal act. Nowhere is the possibility of fighting back or any kind of multiracial unity considered. Sadness is OK, but hopelessness is not.