We get the true story behind the man, but from there it is shots of him being happy and talking about why it makes him happy. In a way the contrast with Twenty Eight Feet is good because in that film I appreciated that the subject was open about his choices, how he affords them and the sacrifices in terms of relationships he makes in order to live this life. Here though the reality is a story of a man deciding to do what he wants with his life and not let the path of the many dictate his, since he really has no value from it anymore. Indeed we open the film with some theories about who Slomo is and why he does what he does and in this regard it is an approach that reminded me of an older short film called The Edgware Walker, which also does the same with a local oddball known to everyone. Since watching the film I have read some daft comments about how inspirational this film is, how great the "message" is and, being honest, I have to laugh at such comments because this documentary is really just a curio over a local character who I guess people who have been there may have seen. Since then Dr John Kitchin has been better known as "Slomo" in his new home on Pacific Beach, where he spends much of his time gliding in fluid movement down the boardwalk on roller blades. Slomo is similar in some ways because it is about a man who was very successful in his chosen field but, as health issues came, he realized that he didn't want to just "be" a job and then die, so he decided to do something different. The same day I watched Slomo, I had earlier watched a short film called Twenty Eight Feet, about a man who decided he would live on a boat, make enough money to get by and enjoy that "getting by" as his choice.
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