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If skateboarding has its St. Paul, then that brittle apostle may very well be Mike Vallely. Intense, serious, purposeful to a fault, Vallely took to the (still vaguely disreputable) sport in the early 1980s and found not just a hobby but a ticket to personal expression bordering on the mystic. Instantly embraced by the then-reigning champions of skateboarding (e.g., Lance Mountain), Vallely became legendary for the intuitive brilliance of his movements and stunts. This 55-minute documentary finds him still in great form and inspired by an alternative vision of the world as a miracle of potential: walls, sidewalks, and benches awaiting the brushstroke of his motion. Like Paul, Vallely has loads to say (in an unnervingly repressed voice) wherever he goes; here he picks up converts in Russia, Alaska, and Finland. Vallely may never be an ambassador of cheer, but he has the soul of an artist and prophet. --Tom Keogh
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