Rising Son - The Legend of Christian Hosoi

Buy Rising Son - The Legend of Christian Hosoi at Unicron.net.

Maybe you aren’t into documentaries but I am, and this one is a goody. If you liked the Dogtown documentary you’ll love this too. If you think documentaries are boring then grow up.

Christian certainly had a colorful life in more ways than one. Smoking pot with his dad, hair extensions, three t-shirts tucked into his back pocket at once, red pants, tank tops, head gaskets, sunglasses, women everywhere, drug charges, Grosso as a friend, jail time, God–the guy has had it all.

One of the things I like about the documentary is how it highlights the contrast between Christian and Tony Hawk. They both loved skateboarding, that much is obvious, but one was blond and pasty white while the other was tan with long black hair. One was stylish, the other was tech. One made money and blew it all, the other managed it well and became a multi-millionaire. But the documentary doesn’t judge, it just lays it out there for you to compare for yourself. It’s not saying one is better than the other, it’s just saying “Look how these two guys are different, isn’t that interesting?” And yes, it is interesting.

A poignant moment for me is footage of Christian talking to someone and basically saying “Man, I was making tons of money, now my royalties aren’t enough to pay the utilities…” The guy was making all sorts of money, and then it just dropped out from under him very much big time and he had nothing. Nothing saved up. Nothing to depend on. Nothing to live on. But after that, he still could have made it. When the X-Games came around he could have made a comeback and have been as big as Hawk became, but he didn’t show up, proving what Woody Allen meant when he said “80 percent of success is showing up.”

If you’re over 30 or just find the history of skateboarding interesting, definitely check this one out.