It’s smart, it’s beautifully filmed, and it boasts a lot of talent on and off screen.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 14, 2024

In its own low-key way, Skate Kitchen is an inspirational watch for its portrait of young women building the sanctuary they need themselves — not just in a largely male subculture but on a broader canvas, too.

| Sep 29, 2023

It’s impossible to describe the sundrenched, dreamy way Moselle and cinematographer Shabier Kirchner capture New York.

| Jul 25, 2023

There has to be a better way to construct a narrative framework for a group of talented non-pros that can address thorny territory without reflexively narrating to the dreariest and most familiar storyline possible.

| Jan 5, 2023

This daring production concept allows Moselle to use her well-honed observational documentary skills to best effect, delivering the story of this unique New York subculture in a beautifully crafted and most engaging film.

| Sep 30, 2021

Smith's performance is quite good, but the movie belongs to the young women of Skate Kitchen, who fiercely defy the status to quo to prove that girls can ollie and flip-kick as well as the guys.

| Sep 30, 2021

Yes, the skateboarding scenes are notable, but it's the cast's authentic, verite-style interactions and relationships that really make Skate Kitchen...

| Sep 30, 2021

Moselle's style of filmmaking is so unobtrusive we almost forget Skate Kitchen is a movie and believe we are in the skate park, zooming up the ramps, executing tricky spins, and getting up after being knocked down.

| Sep 30, 2021

Crystal Moselle shows us a crew of skateboarder girls who are every bit as brash and every bit as good as the guys in Skate Kitchen.

| Sep 30, 2021

Kitchen may center on just one girl, and her awkward and painful coming-of-age, but the supporting girlfriends around her are all sharply and distinctly drawn, too. None of this should be so rare that it's a thrill to see them here, but it is.

| Sep 30, 2021

Aside from actor Jaden Smith, all the other actors did their own skateboarding for the film. Pretty impressive stuff.

| Feb 3, 2021

Ultimately, Skate Kitchen succeeds at being a fun, meandering look at one girl's experience growing, maturing, and finding friends in New York City.

| Dec 8, 2020

A terrific new girls-can-skate-too New York City drama from San Francisco-born, Tamalpais High School-educated director Crystal Moselle.

| Jun 1, 2020

It's really slow. I didn't love it.

| May 15, 2020

An evocative meditation on skateboarding culture and nascent womanhood.

| Mar 4, 2020

No words are spoken towards the end, just a text followed by a seamless shot at dusk, and it's perfect.

| Feb 5, 2020

Mosellle isn't breaking that much new ground here. But what is fresh and different is that she never judges, punishes or, most importantly, exploits her character's behavior.

| Jan 23, 2020

It transcends the common boundaries of Hollywood filmmaking and becomes a living spiritual entity, encompassing the essence and tone of youth.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 30, 2019

A fantastically evocative low-key tale of a teenage girl's coming of age within the skate subculture of New York City.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 8, 2019

At best, though, Skate Kitchen is less about trying to get anywhere or make sense of anything than it is about the casual joy of being young, free and immersed in the moment.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 16, 2019