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For stylish airs, no one came close to Christian Hosoi. At his peak in the mid-80s he was the “rock star” of skating, pulling down money that rivaled Tony Hawk’s paycheck. Innovating crazy vertical maneuvers like the “Christ Air,” Christian knew how to stoke an audience. Then it all came crashing down when Hosoi plowed into self-destruction, getting hooked on crystal meth and hitting rock bottom with a prison sentence for drug smuggling. Completely annihilated, Christian turned to the Bible for answers and found new strength. With lots of action footage and a slammin’ soundtrack, this gritty, inspiring film goes deep inside the world of skateboarding as seen through the incredible highs and lows of this legend’s life, revealed through never-before-released home movies and interviews with Christian’s family and friends including top skaters Jason Lee, Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, Jay Adams, Tony Alva, Mark Ragowski and many more!
Buy Rising Son – The Legend of Skateboarder Christian Hosoi at Amazon
Buy Rising Son – The Legend of Skateboarder Christian Hosoi at Amazon
This is a great film. Since I grew up skating more in the 80′s I appreciate this film almost more the Dogtown and Z-boy (both great flicks). The film showcases one of the best skateboard competition rivalries between Christian and Tony Hawk, style vs. technical. It also goes through the transition from when vert skating was big to when street skating came to the forefront. Christian was one that could do both very well. If you are an old school skateboarder or just one that would like to find more out about their roots this is a perfect film. Towards the end it goes into Christian becoming a Born Again Christian which being agnostic I was worried would be too much, but it was done very tasteful and didn’t detract from the film at all. One of the best things for me was to see the recent footage of Christian ripping the pools.
I have been waiting for a documentary about Hosoi. He came after me as a skater but I think that this documentary shows the bridge from where Alva [the greatest of all time ever]and Jay Adams [the most rad skater]left off and the extention of air continued. It shows how versitile Hosoi was in adapting to the emerging street skating that left many vert skaters behind. It also shows how Tony Hawk (though supportive of Hosoi in the documentary) was really a pale version of Hosoi. It was as if Hosoi was the Jay Adams of his day and Tony Hawk was the Stacy Peralta. Sure Peralta and Hawk were able to capitalize on skating and convert it to monetary fame, but the two who really ripped in their time were Adams and Hosoi. It is a must see for skaters and those unfamiliar with the subject. It is well made and suitable for everyone. I liked it better that the Gater Rogowski documentary. There is a duality to it that enables the viewer to see the rise of this prodigious skater and his sincerity in wanting to contribute after he was released from the pen.
There is another excellent documentary about a fallen 80′s skate legend—”Gator–The Rise and Fall of Mark Rogowski”, or something like that. Both guys were brilliant skaters, innovators of modern skateboarding. Unfortunately, both of them made a lot of money as teenagers, and neither had strong family units to keep them sane. Rogowski ended up getting into drugs and committing the rape and murder of a young woman. He’s in prison for life. Hosoi got into drugs and went to prison, found God, and is now working his way back. Tony Hawk, on the other hand, had a strong family unit(his father Frank Hawk, in particular), and we all know how he turned out. It’s really pretty sad. Christian Hosoi was more popular than Tony Hawk at his peak, but his drug use and immaturity kept him down. Now, everybody knows who Tony Hawk is—but only skaters know Hosoi. Good movie, but it manages to be depressing and uplifting at the same time.