skistarmovies

[skistarmovies]

Masquerade (Super Proof Inc. 2015)

SkiStar Movies Rating: 3/5 Stars

Directed by: Leigh Powis

Starring:  Torin Yater-Wallace, Joe Schuster, Sean Pettit, Callum Pettit, Richard Permin, Noah Bowman, Mark Abma

 Producers: Sean Pettit, Guillaume Tessier, Jaimeson Keegan

  Why the hell not?   Ski movies have used every other production element available to enhance their end product. Producers use helicopters, helmet cams, cranes, drones, heck they even use a second helicopter to shoot film of the first helicopter shooting film of the skier ripping down the mountain. So why the hell not include something totally unexpected and add dramatic elements and vignettes that have nothing to do with skiing but that tell a story in between the usual slices of big-mountain ripping that we have all come to love in this sub-genre of action sports films.

 In Super Proof’s 2014 outing “The Recruitment”, the team laid down their first attempt at creating a fictional background for the skiers.  The choice of route went far beyond other story telling attempts portraying the skiers as soul-searching drifters looking for a place to call home (see Sweetgrass’ 2013 work “Valhalla”) and was certainly on a different road from the documentary/true story-style outings (see Matchstick’s 2013 “McConkey”).  No, this type of story telling had nothing to do with skiing, really.  What we got was a strange series of kidnappings and beatings that director Leigh Powis blended with extreme close-ups of nature and wrapped it in an off-beat sound track to create an almost abstract, David Lynch style work.  The drama sequences raised more questions than they answered and honestly, the film had me scratching my head for some time afterwards.

 The Masquerade continues this “Blue Velvet” meets Warren Miller type vibe.  The mountain vistas are beautiful in all their HD glory, the skiing is what you would expect when you point guys like Sean Pettit and Richard Permin downhill and the dramatic sequences are, well, bizarre.  Watching The Masquerade is like watching a European art film in some second year university course; you get the feeling that the weird, disconnected bits are supposed to be a metaphor for something else but you have no clue as to what.  And then it gets doubly confusing when those weird, disconnected bits are the ski sequences and then you remember this is a ski movie.  Around that point, you begin to think, “maybe I shouldn’t take so much Sudafed.  What am I missing here?” 

 The Masquerade’s story-line about an underground gambling ring ties up at the end a little neater than the storyline in The Recruitment, so there’s a few less WTF questions going on in my brain this time round.  The music is used predominantly as background score and not cut to picture rock-video style, and that definitely differentiates it from every other ski movie out there.  No name cards are used to identify the skier on screen so you’re never completely sure who’s making the run and that certainly contributes to the abstract nature of the movie.  It’s less a promo film for the individual skiers and more a group effort showcasing state of the art/sport skiing.   But when you mix all this with the drama, whether it be this story line or something else, does it work in this format?  Personally, I love people taking creative risks so I’m going to say “keep it up” because it means we have a bigger variety overall in the genre.  But my guess is that most ski porn aficionados are going to be confounded by all this. By Mark “The Attorney General” Quail

 Watch the Trailer for The Masquerade

https://vimeo.com/136245484

[skistarmovies]

Good Company Two (Good Company 2015)

SkiStar Movies Rating: 4.3/5 Stars

Tom Wallisch, Tim McChesney, Adam Delorme, Dale Talkington, Chris Laker, John Ware, Karl Fostvedt, Niklas Eriksson, Collin Collins, Joss Christensen, Noah Wallace, Khai Krepela, Andy Partridge

Directed by Kyle Decker

Produced by Tom Wallisch, Tom Yaps

Studio: Tom Wallisch

What is the dimension that is beyond ”sick”?  If “sick” is the pinnacle accolade and as skiing is seen as a sport of progression where intentions are aimed at furthering the last move made, then it seems to flow that our language should reflect that tendency.  So I ask you, what is beyond “sick” because whatever it’s called, Tom Wallisch’s Good Company Two is its abstract; the skiing in this film personifies that next level. This is beyond “sick”.

 In a love letter to the City of Boston and Wallisch’s home resort (where he grew up) at Seven Springs near Pittsburgh PA, GCT’s fluid shots capture exquisitely spectacular rails, walls and drops.  This crew plays these settings like the great jazz bands of the thirties where virtuoso musicians would rip through head arrangements, each one contributing to the feel of the piece and by working together cause the whole work to transcend any expectations the audience may have had. You get wizards like Joss Christensen hitting industrial park rails to burnish his Olympic Gold with great street cred.  Tim McChesney, never failing to impress, kills it here.  And then the man in the lead, whose skiing style has informed pretty well everyone in GCT as well as legions of park rats everywhere, Tom Wallisch – well, what else can one say?  It’s Tom Wallisch; he’s beyond sick.

 Hats off to Level 1 alumnus Kyle Decker (who worked with TW on 2013’s The Wallisch Project as well as Tanner Hall’s The Lost Season) and AJ Dakoulas for getting this all down with an inventive use of drones and smart, quick edits.  The big air sequence at the end thrills, even if it is reminiscent of something out of a Field Productions ski movie with Filip Christensen’s penchant for a dreamy pop underscore (in this case Tei Shi’s “Basically”) and overhead shots of the skiers in full flight.  But, whatever, it doesn’t detract.  Lastly, the soundtrack is totally on point with a selection of high quality, vibey, indie tracks that put a nice polish on all this.  By Mark “The Attorney General” Quail

 Watch the Trailer for Good Company Two

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awXlQ13D2Rw

[skistarmovies]

The Wallisch Project (Tom Wallisch 2013)

SkiStar Movies Rating: 4.5/5

Directed by Kyle Decker

Starring Tom Wallisch

The Wallisch Project is awesome.  Ski movies are commonly referred to as “ski porn” and The Wallisch Project takes it the next step and delivers all the money shots in a tightly edited, well-crafted, 9-minute segment of pure fantasy.   Wham.  Bam.  Thank You, Ma’am.  Over and over again.   Except, it’s all real in the world of Tom Wallisch’s super-human urban-skiing moves.  Up rail, big gap, down rail?  Hell Yeah.  Corked 1260, switch landing?  OMFG!  Remember when people used to say the hardest, technical thing in professional sports was to be able to hit a major league pitch in baseball?  That was before the advent of extreme sports and well before what gets thrown down on a regular basis today in free-skiing.  You are best advised to be wearing an adult diaper while watching The Wallisch Project – you may need it as Tom lays out a compendium of the toughest moves in pro sports today. The Wallisch Project deserves it’s place right up there with Nyjah Huston’s 2011 skate board mind-blower Rise & Shine in the category of best value for money spent on iTunes.

Roping in Level 1’s Kyle Decker to lens and edit The Wallisch Project is a stroke of genius.  His flow puts you right there and his smart use of slow motion is like an exclamation point, making The Wallish Project all the more inspirational.  

What a great way to start the 2013 ski movie season.  It’s August but I want snow now.   By Mark “The Attorney General” Quail

 Watch the Trailer for The Wallisch Project

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q2DV5sXDh4

[skistarmovies]

Few Words (Process Films/Quiksilver 2012)

Ski Star Movies rating: 4.2/5 Stars

Candide Thovex

Director: Matt Pain

Few Words comes right on time as a testament to a skier that has been absolutely instrumental to the development of free-skiing but has not been in the forefront of the movies and the magazines over the past few years like some of his compatriots.  The world needs to be reminded of the role Candide Thovex has played in skiing as well as the fact that he is still a force to be reckoned with.

 Few Words is an apt title.  Thovex is an innovative and pioneering skier not a publicity machine with a knack for saying things that stir up controversy.  Director Matt Pain, who’s more well-known for snowboarding films than ski movies, weaves a clear and compelling tale through archival footage and interviews with Thovex’s family and contemporaries.  True to the title, Thovex says only a few words throughout this documentary and even those arrive via the archival film segments and in one voice-over toward the end of the film.  “He lets his skiing do the talking” is something that’s going to be said or written repeatedly in connection with Few Words.

 Few Words opens lyrically with a series of beautiful, nay stunning, slow motion aerial shots in British Columbia.  The lighting is exactly right and totally nails the BC vibe.  The opening’s leisurely feeling is then punctured with hit after hit with Thovex exquisitely stomping pillow runs, big mountain thrillers, and massive kickers.  It’s the same cinematic vibe seen in Thovex’s “Candide Kamera” webisodes.  But it’s a good touch from Pain, because it establishes a nice, smooth pace for the film.   And, coincidentally or not, that’s Candide’s approach in his skiing – smooth and fluid, making the most difficult maneuvers look easy.

 The gist of the Thovex story is the classic sort of stuff common with extraordinary talent; starting from boyhood and with rambunctious energy and lively imagination, he’s afforded the opportunity to ski with cutting edge snowboarders and pro skiers and in a perfect environment at Balme near La Clusaz France.  He adapts snowboarding moves to skis and so acts as a catalyst in the progression of free skiing.  A series of great competition wins follows, among them: X Games gold in 2000 for Big Air (at age 17) and X Games gold in 2003 and 2007 for Slopestyle.  And then disaster strikes and it’s a helluva hit.  At his signature event, the Candide Invitational, in 2007 with ski conditions that did not permit enough speed to clear the  44 metre flat section of the Big Bertha jump, Candide crashes and breaks his back.

 Few Words has Thovex disappearing for a few years to heal and then coming back with a series of eye-opening web videos (the aforementioned “Candide Kamera”) where he’s transferred his big air skills out of the park and into back country and big mountain settings.  He then goes on to win the 2010 Red Bull Linecatcher competition as well as the 2010 Freeride Tour overall.  It’s an astonishing transformation, not just because he broke his back and had to recover but because of the demands that the big-mountain environment makes of skiers – it’s a different skill set and his success is a testament to the fact that Thovex is, plain and simple, a phenomenal skier.

 As Few Words goes into it’s final act, its back to the one-man wrecking crew action: triple backflips in the backcountry and shredding steep lines on sheer faces.  It’s no wonder Few Words won Best Male Performance at the 2013 Powder Video Awards (along with a host of other wins), the skiing here is what you expect and what you demand when you watch a ski movie.  Straight-up adrenaline rush.

 Few Words can’t be watched without thinking of Iberg and Nelson’s terrific story-telling about Tanner Hall’s career in one of the other great ski documentaries Like A Lion.  While the voluable Hall provided a lot of insight into his motivation to achieve what he’s done, there no such insight from Thovex.  The viewer is not afforded a real opportunity to get into Thovex’s head (on top of that you barely see Thovex’s head as it’s usually got a hat and goggles on it throughout).  As the voice-over in the beginning says, so much of Thovex’s motivation “is left up to the imagination”.  Does this detract from the story?  Perhaps on that one level but given that there’s so much skiing here, both old footage and new, his story as a skier is solidly laid out.

 What’s cool with Few Words is to go back and watch the opening sequences with Candide slashing and stomping huge runs after you know what happened in his accident.  Watch him make the lightning fast adjustments to pull himself out of the slight slips that would otherwise lead to absolute disaster.  The dude has still got it.  Truly inspirational.   By Mark “The Attorney General” Quail

 Watch the Trailer for Few Words

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL2sCAvM29A

[skistarmovies]

Tempting Fear (Switchback Entertainment 2012)

SkiStar Movies Rating: 3.7/5 Stars

Andreas Fransson, Bjarne Sahlen, Felix Hentz, Xavier De La Rue, Magnus, Kastengren, Paul Roderick, Morgan Sahlen 

Director: Mike Douglas

Producer: Mike Douglas, Bjarne Sahlen

  Having already played a huge role in changing and enhancing the sport of skiing as part of the New Canadian Air Force and with over a decade of hard charging exploits in front of the camera, Mike Douglas is now doing the same thing behind the camera.  With his well-received 2011 offering The Freedom Chair, Douglas turned the story of pro-skier and coach Josh Dueck’s personal tragedy in a crippling ski accident into a phoenix rising from the ashes tale.  It’s a classic portrayal of a fall and an ascending triumph as it deals with the darkness that envelops Dueck after his accident and his determination to continue with the sport he loves.  In fact, to put a finer point on it, it is Dueck’s fight to continue with that defining part of himself that got him into trouble in the first place.  The fearless, take-no-prisoners mindset that’s a requirement to do the things freeskiers do.  The psychology involved here is not the normal subject of discussion in ski movies.  It’s mentioned from time to time but never fully explored.  You have to consider if it actually can be covered fully in a film because getting to core of a lot of questions involving mindset goes beyond words and that takes you into the world of mysticism – a place hard to understand unless you have some life experience.  Nevertheless, with Freedom Chair, Douglas showed that this particular intersection, the mental game and physical limits, in the ski movie neighborhood is worth spending some time at.

 Tempting Fear is the next step in Douglas’ exploration of the psychology of skiing, tracking the exploits of Swedish-born and Chamonix-based ski-mountaineer Andreas Fransson for roughly a year long period between 2011 and 2012.  To the uninitiated, what Fransson does is climb up and ski down mountains that look absolutely impossible.  He gets himself into high alpine places that would normally cause grown men to void their bowels.  In fact, these mountain faces and couloirs, when caught on the cameras that Fransson wears on these descents, can have the effect of causing grown men to void their bowels even while sitting on the sofa while watching said film.  Fransson finds his challenges in unforgiving environments and he goes to places human beings are not meant to be.  One false move, you die.  One small avalanche down one of these couloirs while you’re mid-climb and it’s probably lights out.  His first descents on mountains around the world, including down the south face of Denali in Alaska shown in Tempting Fear, are becoming the stuff of legend and his blog at http://andreasfransson.se is a great source for details and pictures.  Again, for the uninitiated if it helps, Fransson is the LeBron James of ski-mountaineering.

 Tempting Fear combines the mountain footage shot by Bjarne Sahlen, Fransson’s climbing partner with the narrative taken from Fransson’s own writings.  The effect of the interior monologue combined with the knee-weakening footage makes for a great dramatic device because it adheres to the best rule of dealing with a story in movie format: show, don’t tell.  Tempting Fear therefore serves as a documentary about Fransson’s extreme mountain adventures but also provides a 25 minute tour of the workings of his mind.  And Fransson’s is an incisive and contemplative facility.  Listening to Fransson’s film monologue or reading his blog you find things like:

 The worthy adventures of the future will be the ones that invite uncertainty to the table together with beauty and esthetics on the other side. And at the other end of the table there have to sit an unanswered question. This is how I imagine a good adventure.

 It (the outcome of the challenge)(has) to be uncertain, because for me, things that are static are not alive and if an adventure is certain (success, risk, reward etc.) it can be done purely in ones mind – it would not be worth using the playground of this world to expand our consciousness and go out in it and play.

         http://andreasfransson.se/2012/05/the-end/

 This type of thinking might go over the heads of a lot of people, for others it will just freak them out.  Frankly, I’m impressed with intellects and adventurers like Fransson who push the limits past what is considered normal by society thereby setting the benchmark for other like-minded souls as to what is possible and what can be surpassed in the future.

 This all makes for a great story and so a great short film.  Douglas’ 5 to 6 minute episodes for Salomon’s FreeSki TV give us ski freaks a nice, short blast of the thrill we love before we hit the hills ourselves.  But his longer works like Freedom Chair and now Tempting Fear are delivering a much more substantial and substantive insight into the outer edges of the sport.  And that’s a welcome development to the art form we call ski movies.   By Mark “The Attorney General” Quail

 Watch the Trailer for Tempting Fear

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2twIrl7TE0

[skistarmovies]

Act Natural (Toy Soldier Productions 2012)

SkiStar Movies Rating: 4.1/5 Stars

Shay Lee, Brock Paddock, Sandy Boville, Finn Anderson, Karl Fostvedt, Austin Torvinen, Khai Krepela, Dash Kamp, Noah Wallace, Jake Doan, David Steele, Sam Hurst, Will Berman, Luke Perin, Pete Arneson, Cody Perin

 Directed by Justin Brodin

Produced by Shane Dowaliby, Justin Brodin

Edited by Jonny Durst

 Montana’s Toy Soldier Productions’ first effort Come Find Us (2010) was a low key, mellow affair that introduced the world to a crew of riders dedicated to making the most out of what they had while living in an area not noted for skiing.  Ironically, though they complained of not having as many ski features as other areas, the guys managed to find ways to train, shred and squeeze every bit of opportunity possible from their Big Sky setting and develop serious skills.  TSP’s next film, 2011’s Set Your Sights showed loads of progression in both the skiing and the film making as the tricks got more advanced and the camera work became more assured.  It was a solid sophomore effort that sent a strong signal that there was something happening with this crew.

 Though these two earlier films had hints of some prodigious, yet unknown, skiing talents and were a pleasure to watch due to the director’s deft vision for the camera, nothing prepares you for the full out onslaught of shots that make up this year’s movie, Act Natural, particularly the first two segments.

 Shay Lee delivers as great an opening sequence as Sean Pettit’s in Matchstick’s In Deep (2007).  Consisting of urban and backcountry shots, the sheer variety of Lee’s stomps twists your mind in incredulity.  You have to replay them again and again to fully comprehend the skill proficiency on exhibit.  He lines up 720s, misty 5s off roof tops, cab 540s, double back flips, rails on one foot – the list goes on.  Edited exquisitely to the alt-rock soundtrack from Mr. Gnome, Lee’s segment ratchets up the action and the tension right from the start and the punches keep coming right to the end. 

 And then, in a smart bit of programming, the vibe switches as the jazzy hip hop of Theophilus London’s “Big Spender” opens up and Brock Paddock delivers his tricks with complete mastery of form and with all the style of a real artist.  Like a 30s jazz great riffing around the melody and adding his own personal touch, Paddock glides smoothly throwing in understated flare, whether it be a crisp grab or a subtle drop of his shoulder on the afterbang.  And he brings this great style to some horrifyingly scary rails, jibbing everything on the way past.   This is a cleverly developed segment that highlights the skier’s personality without having him say a word and it’s the type of performance and filmmaking that builds legends.  Paddock’s stock is definitely going to rise as a result of Act Natural.

 More so than TSP’s earlier films, director Justin Brodin has conceived of Act Natural as a real rider segment based movie. Not that there were ever weak links in the TSP crew of skiers, Act Natural has a much smaller roster than the earlier films and this provides a bigger platform for each skier to shine.  Austin Torvinen, David Steele and Luke Perin all turn in great parts.  Karl Fostvedt’s inventively aggressive hits are a stand-out especially on his smooth landings.   Finn Anderson, who seems to take a beating in his segments (here and in Set Your Sights) always comes back to astound and astonish with what he can do.  And then there are performances like Khai Krepela’s gut wrenching, high consequence rail ride two stories above the unforgiving cement of the street and Sandy Boville’s hard-charging approach, tearing everything up like a skiing version of Jack The Ripper, as he slays, hits and stomps rails, kickers and stairways.

 Using two and sometimes three cameras per trick allows Justin Brodin and editor Jonny Durst to create a film that has a continuous flow of energy.  Act Natural builds and keeps a strong level of power all the way through until they finish up with a series of relaxed shots set around a custom built park of features in the backcountry, putting the viewer back down on the ground again after a monstrous ride.  Even where several of the same features appear in more than one segment, the TSP crew‘s strong repertoire of skills means that it never becomes dull – it simply highlights the different styles of each of the skiers. It should be no surprise that Act Natural took the honors for Best North American Film in the amateur category at the 2012 IF3 and that both Sandy Boville and Khai Krepela were nominated for IF3 Rookie of the Year awards for their work in this movie.

 Toy Soldier Productions have got a winner on their hands with Act Natural.   By Mark “The Attorney General” Quail

 Watch the Trailer for Act Natural

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ_tXwClc7s

[skistarmovies]

Valhalla (Sweetgrass Productions 2013)

SkiStar Movies Rating: 4.4/5 Stars

Eric Hjorleifson, Cody Barnhill, Carston Oliver, Zack Giffin, Pep Fujas, Kye Petersen, Molly Baker, Karl Fostvedt, Adraon Buck, Johann Olofsson, Ryland Bell, Josh Dirksen, Aidan Sheahan, Forrest Shearer, Stephan Drake, Eliel Hindert, Thayne Rich, Will Cardamone, Jaime Laidlaw, Trevor Hunt, Donny Roth, Jesse Hoffman, Austin Ross, Nick McNutt, Paul Kimbrough, Kazushi Yamauchi, Keely Kelleher, Ralph Backstrom, Piers Solomon, Johan Jonsson, Alex Yoder, Sander Hadley

 Directed by Ben Sturgulewski, Nick Waggoner

 Nothing less than a soul-skiing hippy’s wet dream, Valhalla is the ultimate ski-bum movie.  Practically unheard of in ski films, Valhalla actually has a plot, or at least the sketches of one as Cody Barnhill plays “Conrad”, a questing ski-bum (and there’s nothing pejorative in that term, it’s a badge of honor so don’t send me emails complaining) who finds a tribe of like-minded snow chasers camped out in the mountains.  He settles in, enjoys the winter, finds himself, finds a girl and finds the next stage of his life, his legacy.

 In addition to adding a plot to the expected slate of action shots, directors Nick Waggoner and Ben Sturgulewski also chose not to add the usual ski movie titling to name their riders as they whip down the mountain faces. That anonymity aids in perpetuating the element of freedom that Valhalla pushes and it’s a pattern seen in Sweetgrass’ other films. The skiers become an “everyman” and that offers the illusion that that could be you even though there’s a 99% chance that you can’t ski like Pep Fujas or Eric Hjorleifson.

 And therein lies a good part of Valhalla’s difference from the usual output of ski movies this year.  It’s an attempt to capture the “religion” of riding, the soul of skiing as opposed to a sports broadcast-like outing chronicling the number of spins now required to be considered an elite pro rider.  In that respect and in respect of the directors’ ability to nail the action footage, Valhalla is a welcome entry to the ski movie market and enough of a good thing that the jury at the Powder Video Awards deemed it 2013’s Movie of the Year. 

 The other difference on offer with Valhalla is the unadulterated late-1960s feeling throughout.  You almost expect Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper to emerge from the woods and burn a fat one with the skiers.  Sierra Quitiquit’s character barely says a word but she doesn’t need to in putting across that solid Peggy Lipton/Mod Squad/Woodstock Festival audience member vibe.  Waggoner and Sturgulewski’s writing, as delivered in the narration, is sufficiently mystical so as to qualify as Topanga Canyon metaphysics but it never descends to embarrassing air-head hippy poetry.

 So, OK, “Movie of the Year”?  I’m not going to argue.  Fresh in perspective and delivery, with Grade A back-country footage, Valhalla delivers what cannot often be put in words: that feeling of the mountains as the snow falls in the quiet amongst the trees and the freedom to glide through it all.  The soundtrack is on-point and it even manages to work in an obligatory Alaskan shred-fest sequence.  Great ski movie in a year of great ski movies.   By Mark “The Attorney General” Quail

 Watch the Trailer for Valhalla

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yQTeUYUkvE

[skistarmovies]

Solitaire (Sweetgrass Productions 2011)

SkiStar Movies Rating: 4/5 Stars

JP Auclair, Leo Ahrens, Ryland Bell, Will Cardamone, Johnny Collinson, Forrest Coots, Stephan Drake, Jacqui Edgerly, Chris Erickson, Atsushi Gomyo, Sebastian Haag, Kim Havell, Eliel Hendert, Jesse James, Erica Laidlaw, Jaime Laidlaw, Kyle Miller,  Osamu “Ommu” Okada, Carston Oliver, Alex Paul, Thayne Rich, Dave Rosenbarger, Austin Ross, Danny Roth, Elyse Saugstad, Alan Schwer, Aidan Sheahan, Forrest Shearer, Ptor Spricenieks, Thomas Steiner, Drew Stocklein, Taro Tamai, Jack Tolan

 Having established his reputation as a director with an eye for beauty and an understanding of light in 2009’s Signatures, director Nick Waggoner has blissfully elevated his game even further with his latest Solitaire.

 As any regular viewer of action sports movies knows, ski movies usually identify the skiers on screen and compartmentalize their segments into personality branded affairs.  This is in keeping with the usual ski movie purpose of being as much of a sports broadcast showing the development of the discipline as they are a stand-alone movie.  Solitaire’s skiers remain pretty well anonymous except for the odd shot when their helmets are off and even then only their buddies, their moms and the hardcore fans will know who they are looking at.  Solitaire’s position is not so much of a movie with an emphasis on the “sport” but more as a paen to the act of skiing, a lyrical, lovingly crafted motion picture of riders in motion.  Waggoner’s is a gracefully executed film where light is funneled through the camera lens with a master craftsman’s level precision.  The word “progression” is often bandied about in freeskier circles when referring to the development of skills and tricks.  The progression here is not so much in the tricks or the runs but in capturing the vibe of the inner-space of the soul-skier.  And as far as progression goes, hands down, Solitaire manages to convey this feeling, this headspace, on a level yet seen in ski action films.

 This is a ski movie with a healthy ski-mountaineering component.  The adventure naturally present in mountain climbing lends itself well to Solitaire’s narrative device that is derived from Joseph Conrad’s 1902 novella “Heart of Darkness”.  Solitaire’s Spanish language narrator relays the journey of one man into the unknown, venturing into the wilderness seemingly for no purpose and for the biggest purpose of all, which is to find one’s personal limits, to test the bounds.  Some of the shots in Peru of the climber setting off in the dark of the early morning, lit only by his headlamp are dramatically executed and set up a terrifically appropriate atmosphere given this Conradian theme. In reality, however, this reference to “Heart of Darkness” supplies only a surface touch, a starting point for Solitaire whose real focus is on adventure, both geographically and spiritually.  Solitaire has none of the famous socio-political themes of Conrad’s novella: the indictment of the colonialist mindset and the dark actions of men when they’re unfettered by the strictures and rules of European society.  And, more particularly, there’s no sense of the dimension of evil that Conrad ladled heavily onto his vision of a boat journey up the Congo River.  That’s a good thing seeing as it would be awfully difficult to convey a sense of evil with shots of snow covered sheer mountain faces lit in the whites and blues of misty morning daylight.

 Solitaire works like an epic poem, an ode to skiing, to mountaineering, to taking a chance and making an effort, to finding that strength within yourself that can only be found by you, to playing and winning that game of solitaire that skiing sometimes can be.       By Mark “The Attorney General” Quail.

 Watch the Trailer for Solitaire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKUhGwGM3fA

[skistarmovies]

Mutiny  (Stept Productions 2013)

SkiStar Movies Rating: 4.1/5 Stars

Clayton Vila, Sean Jordan, Shea Flynn, Cam Riley, Charlie Owens, Noah Albaladejo, Maks Gorham, Mike Wilson, Justin Norman, Joey Ciprari, Alex Bealieu-Marchand,

Tom Warnick, Cam Boll, Tim Buol, Kieran McViegh

 Directors: Nick Martini, Cam Riley

 Mutiny is the first ski film noir.  It’s dark, it’s brooding and there are as many cops here as there are skiers.  Yeah, there’s some levity in spots but the slow motion urban skiing shots set to a musical score that’s sometimes more metallic, atmospheric sound design than the usual ski movie rock video edit creates a sense of unease, of trepidation.  Mutiny is not a rah-rah, big guitar chorus ski movie.  Stept do not build ski icons or heroes with an obvious, heavy-hand here.  They don’t hype any skier in an elementary way.  They keep that shit on simmer.  Instead, directors Nick Martini and Cam Riley build a sense of tension with the camera: the starkly lit hospital rooms, the cold hard hits on cement and slush.  And then they deliver, one after the other, a series of trials by ordeal where you see as many crashes as you do stomps – and that’s not done in a funny, ha-ha, blooper sort of style – it’s delivered like a punch in the chest.  Pain is probably the most indelible of the feelings with which Mutiny leaves the viewer, but it’s not the only one.  There’s the sense of detachment in the minor key piano notes under Noah Albaladejo’s precise, stylish stomps.  There’s the sense of alienation in the cold night shoots where the action is against the black of night and hot breaths radiate upwards carrying the pain to the sky as a sacrifice to the urban ski gods.  It all sets a cinematic tone unto itself.

 Now, there are a few segments where the stomps are delivered with steeze, grace and speed, all gain, no pain sort of thing.  Clayton Vila and Sean Jordan simply own that shit they hit.  It’s the jaw-dropping skiing you want.  Vila’s kung fu is from another dimension.  His transition between walls and on to down-rails is every bit at the Bruce Lee level.  Both of Jordan’s main segments a pure poetry in motion.

 But then the heavy accidents come and those impressive segments become a fond memory.   Charlie Owens’ segment turns on the darkness: a crash and then a hospital visit to finish out the season.  It’s a reality-show, ice-cold vibe.  But the showstopper in the pain and dread category is Shea Flynn’s segment.  Flynn is one of America’s most under-rated urban skiers.  He should get way more props in the press than he does.  As I have written before, he has a muscular way of skiing that allows him to attack features with force and come out the other side with style.  But in Mutiny Flynn gets pummeled.  His amazing hits and bone-breaking misses are interspersed with hospital examination and surgery footage (not just visits to the dude when he’s in his recovery bed).  The soundtrack is circus clown scary.  It’s seriously brutal to watch.  It comes across like a torture-porn segment, as if Warren Miller directed both Saw and Hostel.   Martini and Riley then take it further and stir in some David Lynch, red and black lit, twisting head shot weirdness.  Jesus Christ!  Stop that shit.  I’m getting weirded out over here.

 And after that piece of theatre, co-director Cam Riley mixes back in the wow factor.  Always a long rail specialist, Riley’s added a lot more height to his drops off building and walls.   He packs in one beautiful move after another, seven-kink rails, the 270s on to the rail transitions, down-rails by the dozen seemingly and making it all look easy.

 Like the best filmmakers, Stept are not just making movies, they’re building myths in the way they deliver their action.  Get anywhere they want, get the footage and get out.  They’re like a gang with a paranoid streak, always forced to look over their shoulder to see who’s coming next to try and shut them down or evict them off the property.   Mutiny enhances Stept’s reputation for guerilla film-making and relentless energy for pushing their skills.  When you think the guys are about to discover their mortality, they somehow manage to pull off another impossible set of tricks.  Great ski movie: just don’t get me started on their preference for not wearing helmets.  By Mark “The Attorney General” Quail

 Watch the Trailer for Mutiny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLpR9BtSPVw

[skistarmovies]

The Eighty Six (Stept Productions 2012)

SkiStar Movies Rating: 4.2/5 Stars

Clayton Vila, Sean Jordan, Shea Flynn, Cam Riley, Parker White, Tom Warnick, Charlie Owens, Stu Havlerson, Cam Boll, Noah Albaladejo, Mark Hoyt, Maks Gorham, Matt Walker, James Woods, Dash Kamp, Joe Mango, Justin Norman, John Rodosky, Tim Buol, Jake Szarzec, Phil Casabon, Alexi Godbout, Justin Dorey, Henrik Harlaut, AJ Kemppainen, Chaz Gouldemond, Nick Miles

 Directed by Nick Martini and Cam Riley

 Now, this is a movie.

 Weight, last year’s offering from Stept Productions was an intricately edited urban skiing affair where it was clear that a lot of time and thought had been put into the end result.  The Stept crew were honing their editing and directorial chops as well as their skiing and it made the movie a hard-core, thrilling spectacle.  The Eighty Six amplifies this even further and what they’ve ended up with comes closer to a work with a singular, identifiable vibe, rather than a collection of sequences edited to the beat in rock video fashion that is common in the ski movie genre. The Eighty Six presents the Stept skiers as a cohesive group of athletes who single-mindedly explore every possible urban setting for skiing.  They don’t come across as macho hot-doggers or energy-drink sucking dudes who are about one-upping the competition.   This sense of intense dedication to finding the right setting, to getting by security and to stomping the trick make the Stept Crew seem like Shaolin monks: their discipline and their skills are undeniable.

 As a film, apart from the skiing, The Eighty Six has some sweet tricks starting with a long, single shot in the opening that would make Martin Scorsese proud.  It starts at street level, proceeds up a ladder and then works it’s way around the top of a three-story building before Cam Riley makes the jump off.   It conveys in spades Stept’s guerilla film-making style and pays homage to every great heist film that opens with a job being pulled off in improbable circumstances (think of everything from the Pink Panther to The Dark Knight).  It’s an appropriate start for a movie called The Eighty Six where the target, the aim, is to get the shot, whether it be in a waterslide park, on campus, or just generally on private property before they get turfed by the cops, both real and rental varieties.  The other film element worth pointing out is the editing.  Last year’s movie showed a lot of ingenuity in the way the shots were presented in the final product.  This year’s offering is another step up with the editing here being on par with the best of serial televisions current shows where editing is used as a vital tool to convey a sense of pending drama (and this includes Breaking Bad).   As with Weight, the shots here glide, skip and twist around matching the style of the skiers and it’s interesting to watch their editing style develop.  When any member of the Stept editing crew, Nick Martini, Cam Riley, William Desena and Clayton Vila, decides they want to go to work in Hollywood film or extended serial dramatic television, they’re going to have a career.

 Further helping to create this timeless, filmic feel, is a well-curated soundtrack.  When backed with wonky left-field tracks with zero bombast like Mojo Filter’s “Red Right Hand” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Cartoons and Cereal” these ski sequences avoid the realm of the garden variety rock video.  The sense of understatement found in recordings like these tends to enhance the viewing of the skier’s performance.  Or maybe I’m just bored of the soundtracks blasting with big rock guitars while the skier blasts off a kicker.  Either way, what Stept has done here (and I said it before with Weight) is create something that is going to endure multiple viewings without losing its luster.

 And don’t let the focus on the film aspects take away from the achievements in the skiing here.  All skiers in The Eighty Six are on an upward swing with their skills – they keep getting better and better.  Shea Flynn, for one, punches hard.  He’s skiing with even more finesse and style than his terrific opening sequence in 2011’s Weight.  His precision in his spins and jibs is something most of us are going to have to accept as being unattainable.  With his Taliban beard and his ski assault skills, he’s the new look in urban terrorism.  Charlie Owens matches the terrorist vibe with his IRA-style balaclava and his bone-breaking tricks actually end him up with some broken bones but that doesn’t cut his segment too short as he rips rail after rail.  Clayton Vila’s creative combos have you shaking your head in astonishment.  And, it’s almost to be expected, Cam Riley’s opening sequence is replete with long rails and treacherous drops.  It’s the type of thing you play your non-skiing friends when you want to scare the crap out of them. 

 With The Eighty Six, Stept Productions are now certainly among the best of the ski movie production companies.  But it’s not that they are going to supplant Level 1 or any of the other production companies that focus on urban skiing.  What they bring to the table is another vision of what ski movies can be and this allows them to stand on their own, shoulder to shoulder, with the other film crews that devote their time to this work.  And, frankly, who can argue against having more distinct visions in this genre? By Mark “The Attorney General” Quail

Watch the Trailer for The Eighty Six

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_Epw88bEx4

[skistarmovies]

Weight   (Stept Productions 2011)

SkiStar Movies Rating: 4/5 Stars

Clayton Vila, Sean Jordan, Shea Flynn, Alex Martini, Nick Matini, Cam Riley, Parker White, Tom Warnick, Charlie Owens, Sean Decker, Stu Havlerson, Ian Boll, Paul Bergeron, Noah Albaladejo, Mark Hoyt, Will Berman, Topher Baldwin, Maks Gorham, Joey Ciprari, Cam Boll

 The Stept crew assault urban features with such incredible style and finesse and there’s such a sense of dedication to their art that you forget that Weight is all urban with only a few touches of park and back country skiing.  There’s no big mountain, there are no heli shots, no tree skiing and yet this film is riveting.  The tone, the pacing all draws you in to the Stept world.   The single-minded devotion to nailing the trick and getting the shot is compelling and eminently re-watchable.  Yes, that means you’re going to hit replay again and again. Weight is 39 of the most perfectly filled ski movie minutes you could ask for.

 Because of the focus on urban skiing, Weight becomes a clear example of how urban skiers are the new graffiti artists of their time.  Their canvas is the city, just like the brilliant artists of the 80s, the Keith Harings, the Futura 2000s and the Richard Hambletons, except here, their medium isn’t spray paint, it’s film and their visions are recorded and available forever (hopefully).  Their art reclaims the city environment in ways never really imagined by the city dwellers who make their every day way past the hand rails, the ledges, the buildings and the oil tanks of their surroundings.  Like skate-boarders before them, their vision of what can be done in their environment is entirely new, completely refreshing, and to be honest somewhat terrifying.  The crashes that can and do occur and more than cringe- inducing.  You just know that the X-Rays and the MRI pictures are going to be complete horror-shows.  But the danger and the pain, while an ever-present reality in skiing, is an aside here.  What’s on offer in Weight is the grace and the athletic form, yes, the steez, as these skiers refashion these urban settings into massive ski parks.

 Shea Flynn leads off the attack in a segment with such dynamic edits that you feel like you’re in the octagon taking blows to the head from Manny Pacquiaro.  Flynn skis with huge power as he smartly muscles through some exquisite urban carving.  He makes a host of thrilling moves look easy until you see the crash sequence and then you better understand what he’s up against in setting up some of his tricks and how high his skill level is to be able to pull them off.  Likewise, Clayton Vila has several eyeball-popping moves including the DVD’s cover shot jibbing over a street light.  Cam Riley gives another “Mr. Intense” tantrum like he did in this year’s Poor Boyz movie The Grand Bizarre.  If that’s what it takes to deliver great ski sequences, well, I’ll accept it.  But if skiing massive rails doesn’t kill him, the brain aneurism brought on by the next fevered blow-up will.  Sean Jordan nails some ridiculously intense features showing he’s name to watch from now on.  Between regular Dew tour appearances and good movie segments like this, Jordan could be a sponsor’s dream.  Including appearances by Parker White and Alex Martini, Weight possesses one of the smoothest skiing casts of rising talent out there.

 Ironically, it was disaster that led to Weight’s ultimate triumph as a movie.  Having been hit by injuries, Nick Martini took over more of the directing duties and Cam Riley took over more of the editing chores.  Both skiers were able to deliver excellent sequences for Weight but their real achievement is to be seen in the directing and the editing, especially the editing in my mind. Martini and Riley along with brother Alex Martini and Matt Stauble have set up some banger shots to take into the editing suite where Clayton Vila gets in on the slicing and dicing action too.  The sequences slip and slide, slow down and jump forward with all the bursting energy of the skiers themselves.  The resulting style of the film matches the style of skiing in a visually arresting mix.  Topping it all off, is the choice of the music.  You figure you’d get a whole lot of hip hop and dance hall to soundtrack the gangster jibbing moves of an urban skiing crew like Stept and while there’s a touch of that in tracks like Jah Cure’s “Like I See It” (in Shea Flynn’s sequence) and The Roots’ “Rising Down” (in Sean Jordan’s scenes) what really adds an unexpected dimension is the use of minor key, introspective tracks like Devotcha’s “How It Ends” (in the opening sequence) and My Morning Jacket’s “Victory Dance” (in the segment at Breckenridge) and Purity Ring’s “Lofticries” (on Alex Martini’s back country trip).  The vibe added there is less about testosterone-fueled daredevilry and more about straight-up guts and determination.  Those styles of tracks add a more timeless element to the production and one that will age well into the future. 

 Winner of the Best Jib Movie (this was their first year in the pro category) at the 2011 International Freeski Film Festival, things are looking good for the future of the Stept crew.  Catch this one.  By Mark “The Attorney General” Quail

 Watch the Trailer for Weight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EHWtBNqXYU

[skistarmovies]

The Ordinary Skier (1242 Productions 2011)

SkiStar Movies rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Seth Morrison, JP Auclair, Kye Petersen, Dan Treadway, Pep Fujas, Nate Wallace, Tanner Hall, Jacob Wester, Alex Schlopy, Chris Davenport, Andreas Fransson, Lionel Hachemi, Dave Rosenbarger, Glen Plake, Sean Pettit

 You’ve seen him in ski films for years, so you know he’s a man of few words.  Even when he’s interviewed (like in parts of CP’s Tanner Hall Trilogy) he’s straight to the point, terse and can often be heard intoning with some dark wisdom about the magnitude of the danger in skiing steep mountain lines.  He’s stoic and mysterious to say the least.  So you’d have to be curious about a documentary on Seth Morrison because you’d expect it to provide answers, you know, shed some light on what makes the guy tick; a guy who takes huge chances on ski slopes year in and year out for nearly two decades as a pro; a guy who skis with such power and yet such grace; a guy who (seemingly) fearlessly hucks off cliffs taller than your average apartment building, stomps it and skis back to the helicopter for more.

 Well, if you’re hoping to find some easy answers in director Constantine Papanicolaou’s  (“CP”) The Ordinary Skier you’re going to be disappointed, kind of.  CP unravels the Seth Morrison story in a straight-shooting biographical manner: interviews with his mother, step-father and fellow skiers.  There are trips back to Des Plaines, Illinois where Morrison shows us the hill that got him hooked on riding twin planks.  But there’s barely one interview with Morrison where he opens up and let’s us see behind the stony, calm mask.  Morrison’s recollections of growing up are delivered in a matter-of-fact tone that while not completely devoid of emotion, still has him keeping his cards close to his chest.  Only towards the end of The Ordinary Skier do we get a glimpse of Morrison’s motivation to ski like he does and that it may be a defense mechanism against the feeling of abandonment after his biological father disappeared from his life.  Morrison comments how others might turn to drugs or drinking or another sport to provide solace from the demons that haunt them but it’s skiing that Morrison knows, “I wouldn’t know what else to do”, he says.  Or it could be the aftermath from surviving the helicopter crash in Portillo, Chile a few years back when two others in the bird did not.  The Ordinary Skier never tells us.  It’s a marked contrast to Tanner Hall’s demeanor in the best ski documentary of 2010, Like A Lion, where Hall wears his victories and his disasters unselfconsciously on his sleeve for all to see.  One has to wonder whether CP was able to get Morrison to feel comfortable enough on camera in an interview setting to get him going. 

 The revelations come in the interviews with the pivotal people in Morrison’s life.  When his parents divorced while he was six years old he took it hard.  “He said ‘I don’t care’, you learn from his step-father,  “He did but he would never admit it”.  Other illuminations come from fellow skier Dan Treadway who comments on the artistic side to freeskiing and from Sean Pettit, himself a product of broken home, who talks about the mountain as a surrogate father figure.  You are left to impute the same opinions to Morrison but there’s nothing really backing up whether you’re correct in that assumption.

 And then there are the photos of the teenage Morrison, laughing, goofing around, ripping it up as a ski racer during his high school years.  As the photos slide in and out in the Ken Burns style, it’s hard to believe that the hell-raiser pictured there is now a taciturn realist.  Seeing as there’s no insight or explanation into the transformation, pod people from outer space could have taken his personality for all you know.

 About 15 minutes into The Ordinary Skier we are introduced to the sub-plot: a trip to Chamonix with JP Auclair and Kye Petersen that is guided by the affable American ski-alpinist Nate Wallace.  The experience is a cross between a pilgrimage to the holy site of the birth of ski-mountaineering and a medieval ordeal where the pupil has to survive a series of grueling tests in order to succeed because the planning and preparation required to make even the basic Cham runs like the Passerelle Couloir make staggering demands on your skills.

 It’s an interesting first meeting with Wallace because he only knows Morrison from his rep as a madman and yet there’s Morrison dialing it back and sagely putting it out there that, “We’ll take it one step at a time and work our way into it.  You can’t just go to the biggest thing and drop right in – that’s just stupid.  You gotta learn and here I am learning.”

 Chamonix is a humbling experience for any hot-shot skier and as we already have learned, Morrison is now at the stage of his life where he’s past being a young gun and has become a wizened, Jedi Master athlete.  The Cham segments then simply underline or perhaps high-light this aspect of his mature persona.  He didn’t have to go to Cham, he could have loaded The Ordinary Skier with astounding cliff hucks, but he didn’t.  The scenes of the unsettlingly steep runs with the accompanying nerves (check the scenes done at the Col du Plan on the Aiguille du Midi’s north face) that go with them are a subtle reflection of the depth of the man’s character at this point in his career.

 So maybe, at the end of the day, we have to realize and accept that this is the essence of Seth Morrison.  The lazer-like focus of the mind needed to govern the cold-fusion firing of a skier’s synapses and the speed of light mental processing required to render to necessary physical reactions required to ski big mountains or deep pow through tight trees is not common amongst us mortals.  Morrison has it by the bucket full and so he lets his art speak for him.  Remember that next time you see him stomp a massive back-flip.   By Mark “The Attorney General” Quail

 Watch the Trailer for The Ordinary Skier

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5-8gtFfoqo

[skistarmovies]

The Massive (Red Bull Moving Images / Trainjump Entertainment 2008)

SkiStar Movies Rating: 4/5 Stars

Consisting of “Show & Prove” (2006), “Believe” (2007) and “The Massive” (2008) Constantine Papanicolaou’s (“CP”) “Tanner Hall Trilogy” is fundamental to understanding not only the virtuoso level of skiing that Tanner Hall and his crew have achieved but to what has been accomplished in skiing in the first decade of the 21st Century.  Without a doubt, these skiers have had a large role in developing what is now called “freeskiing”.  It’s well-worth viewing all three in succession and since they total just over two hours it’s not an impossible task.

 Considering CP’s final installment in his Tanner Hall trilogy is called “The Massive” it’s appropriate that we look at the some of the skiers that form the Tanner Hall Massive as of 2008.  Appearing in every movie of the trilogy, first and foremost has got to be the brothers Pettit.  In 2008, when “The Massive” was released most viewers were thinking of Callum and Sean Pettit as an indivisable whole, and seeing as they appeared together in almost all of their many sequences in the Tanner Hall Trilogy, one could be forgiven for making this mistake.  Their gutsy moves and tricks throughout these three movies elevated both skiers to the forefront of the sport.  Likewise, brothers Ian and Neil Provo push hard in their appearances and deserve kudos.  Dana Flahr sends it in “The Massive” showing he’s coming up and will deserve all the sponsorship support he’ll get in future years.  Another thing that remains clear in these films is that no one goes big quite like Seth Morrison.  He’s hucked monster cliffs in the two prior films of this trilogy and this movie is no different, except he seems to go even bigger.  You gotta see it to believe it.

“The Massive” covers all the bases: park skiing, urban rails, big mountain, steeps and so on.  The star of the show, Tanner Hall, lays out his mastery on all disciplines in every sequence but one in this movie.  The kid from Kallispel, Montana might be rough around the edges off-piste (literally) but he skis everything with finesse and aplomb.  Teaming up with other masters like Ian McIntosh, Frank Raymond and Morrison, Hall does the exact same thing Prince used to do when working with other musicians in the 1980s: if you are already incredibly accomplished, work with the best in the field and you will look even better.

Two drawbacks about “The Massive” that make its impact on the viewer a little less than it could be.  One is minor and one is major.  Minor one first: the lack of name title cards on the screen telling you who you are watching.  CP tries to compensate here by showing you the skier in question in the scene right before the run but you have to be paying serious attention to pick that up and you had better know what all the skiers look like to be certain who you are watching.  Not an easy feat for most people given the helmets, goggles and balaclavas in use.

         The second issue is the music.  Tanner Hall’s love of reggae music is well known and so the soundtrack is loaded up with island vibes.  Sometimes it works, like in the sequence where Hall and Frank Raymond hit urban features like cement towers and walls. Clone’s dance hall track “Tiwony” provides a terrific underscore.  However, the sequences in the Uinta wilderness the Million Stylez track seems way too mellow when put up against extreme vertical skiing executed by Ian Provo, Neil Provo, Sean Pettit and Callum Pettit.  This situation was repeated a couple of times over in “The Massive”.   Music plays such a huge role in these ski action movies, so if the track does not convey the right feeling, the impact of the sequence is diminished.

         Being released in the fall of 2008, “The Massive” is basically a record of the calm before the storm when Hall breaks both legs at Steven’s Pass in May, 2009 and CR Johnson dies in February 2010.  While it might not have the focus of CP and Hall’s prior film “Believe”, it’s a strong finish for CP’s trilogy and a worthy catalogue of Tanner Hall’s abilities as a freeskier. By Mark “The Attorney General” Quail

[skistarmovies]

Believe  (Red Bull & Trainjump Entertainment 2007)

SkiStar Movies Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Consisting of “Show & Prove” (2006), “Believe” (2007) and “The Massive” (2008) Constantine Papanicolaou’s (“CP”) “Tanner Hall Trilogy” is fundamental to understanding not only the virtuoso level of skiing that Tanner Hall and his crew have achieved but to what has been accomplished in skiing in the first decade of the 21st Century.  Without a doubt, these skiers have had a large role in developing what is now called “freeskiing”.  It’s well-worth viewing all three in succession and since they total just over two hours it’s not an impossible task.

 A sophisticated slow-focus opening with a bluesy, electronic score builds a serious tone as “Believe” opens up.  Fitting because the serious skiing comes fast and furious as Tanner Hall, CR Johnson and Ian Provo go tree skiing at Mount Baker.  The most glorious shots are the sights of Johnson just sending it in a way not even imaginable by most mortals, forget that 12 months earlier Johnson had been in a coma for 10 days and had to learn how to use his legs again. Soundtracked to a bangin’ dance hall track from Khari Kill, the spectacular footage makes you feel the chest deep snow.

Yet, in the next sequence, Johnson spills it out that his mental game is not in focus even if his physical skill is largely back.  It’s an honest declaration and it reminds you that it takes guts as well as skill to pull off this level of skiing.  He recognizes that he has to build and to do it he needs to go slowly and he needs to do that on his own.  So, Johnson exits the project at this point (Johnson appears in a couple of terrific sequences in Matchstick’s “Seven Sunny Days”, filmed the same year as “Believe”).  A couple of sublime sequences follow, one of some back-country ripping at Retallack with Kye Petersen and Dan Treadway and another with Callum Pettit (then 17 years old at the time) and Sean Pettit (14 at the time).  They throw some spins in a school playground before heading to the back country to shred. 

Hall, Anthony Boronowski  and Ian Provo head to Niseko, Japan.  Their footage of the skiing through the white birch trees looks surreal and ghostly and is made all the more intriguing because of the electro-pop stoner vibe of Karin Dreijer Andersson’s voice on Royksopp’s “What Else Is There” which is used as underscore.  Hall’s skiing at this point is at the same level as Wayne Gretzky’s hockey when he was 24.  His control and style are disciplined to the point of making double back flips look effortless.  In the next sequence, the music delivers a compelling punch once more as Seth Morrison rejoins Hall and Boronowski to demonstrate how to huck off 80 footers, back-flipping no less.  Underscored with Jedi Mind Tricks’ track “Razorblade Salvation”, the piece is one those classic ski movie sequences where the skiers make it all look very easy.  I’ll just say one thing: don’t try this unless you are Seth Morrison.

The real visual stunner is up next as the boys head to Haines AK.  CP opts for a darker processing that gives the white mountain snow a blue tinge.  The effect is to make it look like the crew are skiing on another planet.  His artful framing produces some great moments like when Morrison blitzes down a spine with two rushes of sluff racing down on either side of him.

At only 35 minutes, it’s unbelievable how satisfying “Believe” is.  The skiing is masterful and graceful.  Hall is not interviewed here; you only get a few comments from him that show his mental process prior to having gravity do its work.  Hall lets the skiing do the talking and as he’s in every sequence, the skiing says a lot.

There are no rail or park sequences in “Believe” but the crew brings that mindset to the back country and the big mountains and delivers those types of moves in natural settings.  In a way, it’s the best of both worlds, to be cliché for a minute.  “Believe” makes it abundantly clear that Hall is something else on top of being a park skier, a discipline that he mastered and dominated during the 2000s.  It’s ironic because at the same time this film was being made Hall was taking Gold in the X Games Half Pipe in January 2007 and at the US Open Half Pipe, a fact that is not even mentioned in the film.  With the straight-ahead approach to the ski action genre (instead of the documentary approach used in “Show & Prove”) “Believe” is a distillation of the purest form of ski movie.  It’s a real tribute then to “Believe” to see that it went on to win Movie of the Year, Best Male Performance for Hall and Best Line at the 2008 Powder Video Awards.     By Mark “The Attorney General” Quail

[skistarmovies]

Show & Prove  (The Bigger Picture 2006)

SkiStar Movies Rating: 4/5 Stars

Consisting of “Show & Prove” (2006), “Believe” (2007) and “The Massive” (2008) Constantine Papanicolaou’s (“CP”) “Tanner Hall Trilogy” is fundamental to understanding not only the virtuoso level of skiing that Tanner Hall and his crew have achieved but to what has been accomplished in skiing in the first decade of the 21st Century.  Without a doubt, these skiers have had a large role in developing what is now called “freeskiing”.  It’s well-worth viewing all three in succession and since they total just over two hours it’s not an impossible task.

 Executed in documentary format “Show & Prove” sets the stage for the 2005-2006 season for Tanner Hall and CR Johnson.  The main thing you have to be aware of in the opening moments here is that Hall was recovering from a serious break of both feet from a jump at Chad’s Gap, Utah.  Needless to say, foot injuries and skiing do not mix so there’s a jagged element of suspense going on here.  Copping a guerrilla filmmaking vibe using handheld camera shots, director CP captures the rising steam and sweat as Hall and Johnson work hard on an urban rail warm up.  There are no glamour shots here – CP shoots it like what it was – a warm up for the onset of the season where the pay-off from all the hard work could be big. 

Hall then takes off for Finland to hit some more rails with PK Hunder while Johnson stays stateside to ride the powder expected from an early season storm in the Wasatch Mountains.  That’s when calamity strikes once more, this time for Johnson.  Getting hit just below his helmet by a fellow rider, Johnson ends up in a coma for 10 days.  Hall gets back from Finland to find his best friend wired up to life support and is devastated.  At this point CP’s skills as a director and editor come into play well because Hall needs to keep skiing to make the season pay off.  In lesser hands, the story would have turned to interviews with the principals about their feelings on this event and tone would have gone really heavy – that would have been stereotypical.  Remember, this is supposed to be a sports action ski movie about 2 guys about to have a great year.  CP wisely turns to music to keep the film afloat and drops Massive Attack’s track “Dark Storm Days” which elegantly conveys the sense of sorrow that’s now dripping off the screen and that perfectly underscores a beautiful back-country powder session.  Hall, Tanner Rainville, Skogen Sprang and Evan Raps ski it out and the movie keeps moving. 

Heading back to the hospital in Salt Lake, Hall is there when Johnson comes out of the coma.  Harnessing the Ken Burns effect and a host of black and white photos, CP injects some hope back into the story.  While Johnson continues his recovery, Hall, Dan Treadway, Seth Morrison and JP Auclair head to Retallack and Baldface Lodge to ski trees and pillows.  Then it’s back to rehab where Johnson’s pace of recovery is astonishing.  He’s now walking under his own steam and exits the hospital after 34 days when his recovery was originally predicted at six months to a year. 

At the end of January 2006, Hall closes on gold in the pipe at the Winter X Games, and so starting one of skiing’s great legends: coming back on top in a professional sports scene full of amazing talent after what would have been a career ending injury for anybody else.  His 2006 victory has often been portrayed as a win for both Hall and Johnson.  With Johnson setting the example and making a heroic recovery, you can argue that  he made it plain to Hall that he can prevail despite the double break just the season before.  The two feed off each other and triumph as a result.  CP’s unraveling of the story gets that feeling across subtly and makes it that much more real and believable. 

By February 2006, with Johnson on the mend and a gold medal in his ski bag, the blue skies come out and the needle drops on a   track by Turbulence for a couple of sequences of back country spins and other tricks with Anthony Boronowski, Rainville, Callum Pettit and Sean Pettit (showing early traces of the style that will catapult him to the top of the heap in 4 years).  Seth Morrison and Hall then head up to Pemberton BC.  They were still getting hammered with a late winter storm so the boys head for the trees to wait for some bluebird.  Two weeks later they were still waiting but when the weather does break on their last day, Morrison wastes no time in throwing back flips off unfathomable cliffs.  Huge “Holy $41T” moments.  

The movie closes out with Johnson gearing up for a late season run.  How will he fare?  You find out in “Believe”, the next installment in the Tanner Hall Trilogy.   “Show & Prove” is a solid sports action film melded with a compelling documentary.  It’s one of those documentaries that could never be scripted and it relies on the good fortune of being in the right place at the right time.  CP harnesses this and delivers a film that serves as a great building block in the creation of the Tanner Hall legend.  By Mark “The Attorney General” Quail

[skistarmovies]

Stadaconé – Where The River Narrows  (ESK Media 2010)

Ski Star Movies Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Less a ski movie and more a collection of ski segments, “Stadaconé” unleashes 22 skiers in a 31minute movie and as you might guess from the title (if you’re up on your Iroquois and New World history, anyway), the focus is on skiers from La Belle Province: Quebec Canada.  With that type of athlete density, there are no real standout superstar performances here but there’s no doubt about the depth of talent in this scene.  The creativity on display makes for a short but solid viewing as skiers like JF Houle, Phil Casabon and JP Auclair hit slope-style courses, rails, building roofs, construction sites and truck depots: you know all the stuff for which Eastern skiing is getting famous.  Except for some insights about the scene from JP Auclair towards the end of “Stadaconé”, there are few real “lifestyle” segments that give you a sense of the personalities of the athletes. As often as not, however, those can go wrong in ski movies and end up being bad filler.  But, with Stadaconé, you end the viewing feeling like you had a glimpse of the scene but could have easily had a little better understanding and appreciation if more insight or commentary had been offered.  The soundtrack works real nicely with tracks from bands like Arcade Fire, The Black Keys and Miike Snow.  Director and editor Nicolas Brassard Asselin has woven a tightly packed set of sequences that showcase the dedication of his crew and skiers.  For fans of urban rails and slope-style courses.   By Mark “The Attorney General” Quail

[skistarmovies]

Steep (High Ground Productions 2007)

SkiStar Movies Rating: 4/5 Stars

Director: Mark Obenhaus

“Steep” is a terrific ski documentary that goes beyond the ski action films we all know and love.  Yes, there’s action in “Steep” but it’s not meant to be a regular ski action film, so don’t look at it that way.  “Steep”’ is about the mind-set that drives athletes to attempt runs down 50 degree slopes and it covers this in a sensitive but casual way; there’s no beating the viewer over the head with the fear and guts angle, it’s just there.  Part history lesson and part psychological study, it opens with the stories of the French and Italian big-mountain skiers in the 70s and 80s who pioneered the sport.  Those interviews and the segments with American icon Doug Coombs (who is really the star here) provide great insight into the men and women who express themselves not by making paintings or writing books but by skiing the steepest mountain sides on the planet.  Skiing at this level, especially since these descents are often filmed, is akin to performance art.  But its performance art with a big difference: if you fall, you die.  “Steep”’s last third digs into the stories of those who have redefined big mountain skiing since the 90s :  the hot-dogging of Glen Plake, the aerial work of Seth Morrison and, of course, the base-jumping experiments of  (the late) Shane McConkey.  “Steep” is a well told tale that will hold the attention of the tourist skier and will be loved by the hard-core. By Mark “The Attorney General” Quail