'So many of the people we see on screen are young, but it's nice to see something different.' One of the remarkable aspects of the film is the difference between the Slomo we see in interviews and the familiar character, some might say San Diego legend, we see skating the boardwalk. Micheli says she and Izenberg are both interested in older characters. 'The people that love Slomo are cheering for one person that got away and got to real freedom where he skates all day,' Slomo explains in the film. 'It was much more fitting with Slomo to have these three guys moving together in an organic way.'Īs they skated, passersby would give Slomo high-fives and call out his name. 'So it was sort of like this little caboose, going down the boardwalk,' explained Micheli by phone from San Francisco.

As Slomo skated, the cameraman shot on rollerblades behind him, and Izenberg, the director, was on a skateboard recording sound.

Amanda Micheli produced 'Slomo,' and says the crew had to get creative during the shoot. The film includes stunning footage of Slomo skating. 'I think what I’m doing, with all due modesty, is a type of flying,' Slomo told the filmmakers. As Slomo, he's become known for that signature balancing move on one leg, arms spread like wings. He's fully embraced his nickname and hasn't stopped skating. 'Every night I just went back to it like it was some sort of religious thing,' he says in the film. He bought rollerblades and started to skate. He moved to Pacific Beach and a studio apartment. He said to himself: 'Why don’t I just cash it in and start a whole new life?' He decided to be a completely different person. After a failed marriage and a health scare, he walked away from it all. They'd gone to medical school together.ĭespite all his wealth, Kitchin felt empty. It's simply titled 'Slomo.' Joshua Izenberg directed the film after his father told him about Kitchin's transformation into Slomo. 'I lived in a mansion,' he explains in a new documentary short chronicling his life and love of skating. John Kitchin, a hardworking neurologist who made a lot of money, which he spent on things like a BMW, a Ferrari, and an exotic animal farm. It looks like he’s skating in slow motion, which is how he got the nickname 'Slomo.' He's often grinning and listening to music as he weaves in and out of the crowds. It’s his knowledge, his courage and his Southern charm that makes Slomo such an interesting and admirable man.He skates there every day – arms outstretched, gliding on one leg, the other lifted behind him. Kitchin does creep into the conversation, particularly when Slomo talks about his unique style of skating an how three pieces of cartilage in the middle ear can make the body think that it’s flying. Reinvent myself…I found out all I really wanted to do was the basic things and skate…It was the only spiritual part of my lifeĪt times Dr. At the beginning it seemed like it was about 90% spiritual and as the years went by it got about 90% financial…and then I had the opportunity to stop…So I was thinking if I’m going blind, losing my vision and it’s affecting my work, and my work is very unsatisfactory to start with…why don’t I just cash it in and start a whole new life.

I remember I would leave the office and I would think to myself how much of today promoted me spiritually and how much did it promote me financially. I was lost in a rational world…I was hardworking, thinking only about material things, a 12-cylinder BMW, a Ferrari, an exotic animal farm. The words of a chance encounter with an older man many years before and his failing vision, spurned the doctor into reinventing himself to be who he really wanted to be. John Kitchin, who renamed himself “ Slomo“, who decided to quit a successful career as a neurologist in order to do the one thing that made him happy – inline skating along the Pacific Beach boardwalk in San Diego, California. This wonderful film by Josh Izenberg via The New York Times, tells the story of Dr.

Slomo mission beach