The Mystery of Flying Kicks

You've all heard some reasons for it, for why there is a pair of trainers hanging from an overhead power line in the middle of the street. For me the story was that it means drugs are sold nearby and for the neighborhood that I work in I just presumed that was true. There are many stories though – but all that is true is the specific motivation of the person doing it, not a global truth. This film explores this and in doing so doesn't really provide a specific answer so much as simply adding to the variety of personal answers.

Essentially we are exploring or discussing a cultural meme which continues to grow and perhaps the reason of the first times is long forgotten and now all that remains is the act itself, but it is an iconic image and for me personally it always makes me think of urban decay, particularly in large US cities. The film feeds into this really well with input and stories from across the world which are delivered in an upbeat and well-paced way with animation, video footage, YouTube clips, answer machine messages and more all coming together to make a collage of this thing.

It is energetic and engaging, partly because we are looking for the answer but also partly because we enjoy hearing the theories and the manner in which the film tells them. Matthew Bate does a good job of putting the subject together in a documentary style in a way that makes sense and has a good flow and his mixing of media works well too. It doesn't provide you with an answer but it is an engaging discussion and well presented.