Peninsula People Feb 2018

Tribal
by Ryan McDonald
In “The Tribes of Palos Verdes,” there’s darkness amid the sunshine as Medina (Makia Monroe) and her brother Jim (Cody Fern) move to the peninsula from the
midwest with their family. Photo courtesy IFC Films
‘Tribes of Palos Verdes’ is a beautiful but flawed take on the Peninsula
Brendan and Emmet Malloy’s latest film, “The Tribes of Palos Verdes,”
had a high bar to clear, and the fault is their own. As far as cinematic
takes on surfing localism go, it would be hard to top a four-minute
deleted scene from “Fair Bits,” the Malloy Brothers’ Taj Burrow-centered
surf movie from 2005.
The skit centers around Donavon Frankenreiter and Ben Stiller — disguised
in a fake moustache and trucker hat — who post up in a beach-front
carpark, channeling Laurel and Hardy as they ape their way through the
finer points of localism. They growl “No photos!” and clumsily wrench a
camera away from a mom and daughter out for a stroll. They clutch latemorning
Budweisers while talking down the surf, which, in passing shots,
looks absolutely firing. (The spot is never named, but the footage suggests
a certain Ventura County beach break with a reputation for violence). And
they harangue a series of passersby who include Burrow, the late Andy
Irons, and the Malloy Brothers themselves. “More like the motherfuckin’
Marx Brothers,” Stiller mumbles from the lot as one of them threads a spitting
barrel.
It’s hilarious, and it dramatizes the way hateful surfing locals are almost
always clowns, as suitably brought down with a pie in the face as a vengeful
exposé. This lesson, though, is often forgotten in the brooding “Tribes,”
which snaps and turns with a seriousness that never quite feels earned.
The film follows teenager Medina (Makia Monroe), who moves with her
family from the midwest to Palos Verdes. She encounters a sterile, superficial
community that enforces manicured uniformity by municipal ordinance,
and is so cloistered that the football stadium lacks lights, Medina
tells the audience, “because locals didn’t want anyone from out of town
there after dark.”
Medina launches this voiceover critique less than 15 minutes in, but it is
already fairly clear what kind of ideas the movie has about Palos Verdes.
Peninsula residents watching the movie will notice a fair share of Easter
eggs, but they are unlikely to be thrilled. Over the course of the film, Medina’s
family tumbles downward like stones off a cliff, and it all seems to be
the fault of the Hill and the people living on top of it.
As a finely etched portrait of the Peninsula, forget about it: “Tribes” dispenses
with subtleties, like the existence of four different cities and an unincorporated
area in favor of generalizations about the whole darn
landmass. In interviews, the Malloy brothers have instead characterized the
film as a look at the darker side of coastal Southern California, a place that
tries very hard to be perfect. The idea is not quite an original one, but there
are enough piquant moments to make one wonder whether people will
groan at the movie for what it gets wrong, or squirm for what it gets right.
“Tribes” is an adaptation of the 1997 young-adult novel of the same name.
In most reviews, the book carries the ambiguous descriptor “semi autobiographical,”
and in the years since its publication, Peninsula native Joy
Nicholson’s tale has found a comfortable niche between cult classic and
mainstream success. Its frank depictions of drug use and parents behaving
badly have endeared it to teens typically bored by reading. But the real lure
of the story, for coast-dwellers and landlocked alike, is surfing.
The “Tribes” of the title carries several meanings, but the most prominent
reference is to the Bay Boys — or “Bayboys” in Nicholson’s truncated style
— the crew of surfers that for decades have been accused of keeping people
out of the water at Lunada Bay. As in the headlines, the Bay Boys of the
film are buffoonish cro-magnons, who hold their territory with a mixture
of intimidation and violence. (A lawsuit in federal court against several alleged
Bay Boys is pending; last February, a judge declined to certify it as a
class action.)
This protectionist behavior, of course, is also a great way to make something
desirable. Not long after moving in, a mysterious noise at sunset lures
Medina out of her bedroom. She climbs to the top of her family’s ranchstyle
home, and realizes that it is a crew of surfers hooting each other into
16 Peninsula • February 2018