This entertaining documentary was a major
feature of the 2005 Resfest film festival —
a global event that visited Melbourne and Sydney
late last year. Tracing the history of the humble
sneaker, directors Thibaut de Longeville and
Lisa Leone look at its development from a practical
athletic shoe to a must-have fashion item, and
the influence hip-hop culture has had on the
development of the $26 billion global market.
Interviews with pioneer rap and hip-hop artists,
current mainstream rappers, average Joes and
“street cats”, retail business owners,
designers, marketing gurus and director Thibaut
de Longeville himself, gives an insight into
what draws people to sneaker culture. While
there is a certain degree of shit-talking throughout,
the focus stays readily on sneakers.
The evolution of sneakers from the purely practical
to the almost-wholly indulgent brings to the
fore the influence of mainstay ’80s rap
group Run DMC — with their no-laces shell-toes
and matching Adidas tracksuits — and the
rise of Michael Jordan and his ground-breaking
black and red Nikes. Both gave the African-American
youth someone to identify with and when Run
DMC invited a few Adidas suits to a gig in New
York, Adidas finally realised the power of product
placement and subsequently gave Run DMC a previously
unheard of US$1 million contract.
An introduction to the current sneaker market
soon follows and the mind literally boggles
at the thought of the billions of dollars that
are spent each year on kicks. A few of us may
spend thousands a year on our own collection,
but just imagine how many sneaker freakers there
must be around the globe spending their hard-earned
cash on hard-to-find, limited edition, sample
only, re-issues and first editions to float
a US$26 billion market. While hunting kicks
is a culture unto itself, Just for Kicks fortunately
never delves into the why behind the obsession,
the directors assume that if you’re watching
a film about sneakers, you’ve already
been bitten by the sneaker bug. And rightly
so!
Current hip-hop “artists” raise
their ridiculously wealthy heads and show off
some of their prized kicks, and while viewers
may have been expecting this all along, some
will be surprised by the sheer number of sneakers
that fill the screen, and the audacity with
which one interviewee, in particular, introduces
his Nike room and his Adidas closet. Nevertheless
it goes a long way in identifying how hip-hop
wields an enormous power over sneaker culture
and also how sneaker companies are clamouring
to sign up successful rappers in order to sell,
sell, sell.
While viewers may find fault with certain aspects
of this documentary (why it doesn’t branch
out into other aspects of sneaker evolution,
for example), its insightful street approach
makes for a fast-paced, stylish and laugh-out-loud-funny
film that delves into a world that few of us
are truly passionate about, and many may fail
to understand the relevance and reverence a
film like this demands. A documentary with plenty
of sole.
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