“As much a celebration of family and culture as it is a poignant story of identity and the importance of forging your own path.”

Every culture is different and has its own customs and traditions that separate it from others. However, there are a few universal experiences that everyone is bound to encounter, regardless of our background – and one good example is that being a teenager can be challenging for just about everybody. It can be an ordeal to go through these formative years, particularly when we exist in the ambiguous space between adolescence and adulthood, where we are old enough to have certain responsibilities, but are also too young to be well-equipped to handle the inevitable obstacles. This is the inspiration behind Skateboarding Is Not for Girls, the charming sophomore directorial outing of Dina Duma. The director travels to working-class North Macedonia and introduces us to Adela, a rambunctious girl caught between honoring the traditions of her conservative Balkan Romani family and the appeal of a more modern life, where she is not bound by the inevitability of arranged marriages and a humble domestic life. This leads her down a path of self-discovery, where she encounters various people who offer her insights on both sides, revealing something profound about the human condition in the process. A straightforward premise carrying some weighty themes and an abundance of meaningful insights into the challenges of being young, Skateboarding Is Not for Girls is an effective film that never succumbs to the usual coming-of-age tropes, while also providing a valuable perspective on individuality and family.

At its core the film is about a teenager who is trying to hold onto her rebellious spirit, desperately hoping to retain as much of what makes her unique as she can, while constantly under pressure from adults around her who insist that she needs to follow the preconceived path set down for her by the culture. It’s a common trope in the coming-of-age narrative, and one that Duma and her co-writers (one of whom is Teona Strugar Mitevska, a very exciting voice in North Macedonian cinema who has already established her own strong directorial career) use sparingly, knowing the value of such a story lies not only in what it says openly, but also the smaller cues that add nuance to the conversation. We have become accustomed to stories of teenage rebellion rarely having perilous consequences, so it’s fascinating to find one in which there are legitimate stakes. This makes Adela’s psychological journey all the more compelling, since we understand that the refusal to conform can actually lead to some serious problems within her community. Nevertheless, the film still shows her efforts to come into her own, oscillating between an intricate glimpse into the customs of a cultural group not often represented on screen, and a dynamic exploration of a young girl discovering her identity and gaining the courage to express her individuality, giving herself permission to defy the social pressures and cultural obstacles that stand in her way.

A glance at the premise may lead you to expect a very dense, heavy-handed social realist drama about the perils of growing up in a society where you feel out of place. But from its first moments, we find out that Skateboarding Is Not for Girls is a far more playful affair, particularly in how it portrays the dynamic between Adela and those around her. The film moves with the kind of youthful energy that accurately reflects the experience of being a teenager – chaotic, unpredictable and extremely fast-paced, which is a quality that this film uses to its benefit, finding a rhythm that becomes as integral to the experience as the story being told. It is grounded in social realism, and there are certainly some challenging moments in which the less-than-ideal economic situation of Adela and her family comes into focus, but even at its darkest the film is never bleak enough to feel hopeless. Instead, it tackles the serious subject matter with candor and respect, while resisting the urge to preach about how awfully challenging life is for these characters. It navigates these complex conversations with deft precision, and the combination of tender drama and gentle humor creates a memorable balance between tones, preventing it from becoming too dense or overwrought.  Credit must also be given to the cast, with Efkjar Abaz as Adela and Simonida Selimovič as her mother Esma being the standouts, playing into the contentious but loving relationship between these two characters in a way that feels genuinely moving, anchoring the film and giving it a sense of profound authenticity.

At first, we may find Skateboarding Is Not for Girls to be a relatively conventional coming-of-age film, one that effectively blends comedy and drama to create a balanced portrait of a young protagonist as they learn about the world. However, as we venture deeper and begin to engage with the story on a more intricate level, there are some interesting ideas that the director seamlessly weaves into the narrative, creating a poignant and touching examination of contemporary life as seen through the eyes of a specific set of characters. It’s a fascinating portrait of the tug-of-war between tradition and modernity, filtered through a group of women who each have different approaches to how to navigate contemporary life. Some find solace in the consistency of traditions, others choose a more progressive path that may not have as much structure but gives them a sense of freedom – and as the story of a young woman trying to find herself in a world that she is already struggling to recognize, it is quite clear where the narrative is going to settle in terms of this central debate. It becomes an exploration of social structure and traditions through the eyes of someone who can’t wait to break the conventions that she feels are needlessly weighing her down, desperate to experience the joyful liberation of defying the status quo. Never overwhelmed by cultural detail, but still finding ways to celebrate traditions while also championing defiance and the value of being yourself, Skateboarding Is Not for Girls is as much a celebration of family and culture as it is a poignant story of identity and the importance of forging your own path.