2005 SKI MOVIE REVIEWS: Don’t Get Mad…Get Rad

Hit List - Matchstick Productions
mspfilms.com
Length: 68 minutes
Cost: $28
Medium: 16mm film

Once again, MSP throws the kitchen sink at us. First it’s the world-class locations: heli-only-accessed zones such as Tulsequah, Micah Heli Lodge, Northern Escape Heli; heli-on-yacht exploration of British Columbia’s Boundary Range; exotic Krasnaya Polyana, Russia; and North American hotspots such as Whistler, Crested Butte, and Tahoe. Then it’s some of the world’s best skiers: Eric Hjorleifson, Mike Douglas, Hugo Harrison, Rory Bushfield, Pep Fujas, Ingrid Backstrom, Mark Abma, Daron Rahlves, Chris Davenport, Shane McConkey, and more hitting deep powder, conquering huge big mountain lines, surviving avalanches, and stomping impossible tricks. Put it all in the Matchstick blender and out comes 70 minutes of truly incredible ski film. This year’s soundtrack is one of the best, but definitely more mellow than years past, giving the movie a more introspective feel. Hit List went slightly overboard with near-constant athlete commentary, which both helps and hinders the viewing experience. While MSP once again produces the industry’s finest cinematography of the world’s best athletes in the most awe-inspiring locations, Hit List falls prey to the MSP formula. It works, but we know it all too well. (Bonus DVD: Hit List Re-Mix, edited by Scott Gaffney and the athletes.)

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Teddybear Crisis – Teddybear Crisis
teddybearcrisis.com
Length: 42 minutes
Cost: $28
Medium: 16mm & 35 mm film

Three years since his last release, The Flying Circus, filmmaker Kris Ostness teamed up with Henrik Rostrup of Push Films (Not Another Ski Movie) to create Teddybear Crisis, a bold attempt at an artistic ski film. The film’s intro—featuring athletes dressed as dogs and bunnies thrashing around a dingy basement—feels like a heroin-chic version of Alice in Wonderland Visits the Insane Asylum. The scene is dark, vividly weird, incredibly creative, and exactly what you’d hope from Ostness. Post intro, the film flashes to beautiful cityscape timelapses, athlete intros, and into the ski action. The majority of Teddybear features Tanner Hall, Mike Wilson, Simon Dumont, Jon Olsson, Henrik Windstedt, and other young talents conquering oversized backcountry gaps, large park features, and numerous urban rails. Many of the features are bonofide engineering feats, and the skiing is A-level, including Hall’s 53-mph switch entrance to a stomped 900 over Chad’s Gap. Although short and lumped into one segment, Jon Larrsson, Stian Hagen, and Seb Garhammer deliver worthy big mountain skiing. Creative use of timelapse cinematography becomes the unifying theme, but aside from the ’80s-inspired indie soundtrack and occasional flying stuffed teddybear, the artistic elements from the intro never reappear. Strangely, the film ends on an Ashley Battersby introduction, but we never see her ski. Teddybear Crisis had the potential to become one of the most unique and creative ski films in the last decade. The film’s editing, soundtrack, and cinematography are superb, however, the lack of thematic follow-through makes the artistic attempt feel like a great idea that needed more time in the editing room.

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The Tangerine Dream – Teton Gravity Research
tetongravity.com
Length: 62 minutes
Cost: $28
Medium: 16mm

For it’s 10th Anniversary ski film, TGR pulled out the nostalgia stick. Actually it was an old beater pickup truck called the Tangerine Dream that TGR co-founder Dirk Collins drove down the Alcan highway to Jackson Hole in 1995. For better or worse, Collins also returns as the narrator in the opening segment. After the retrospective intro, we’re back into recognizable TGR territory. Sage blows the movie open with a powerful multi-discipline segment. Then there’s a quick mistake of taking the Olenick brothers—two respectable park skiers—to Alaska. They survive, but honestly, who cares? Chris Collins returns with some monstrous backflips and rowdy lines and then 15-year-old Kye Petersen boosts Utah’s iconic Pyramid Gap. Dana Flahr shows up in Jackson and throws down a segment worthy of a potential breakthrough skier of the year. This year’s TGR geography class offers a look into ski life in Pakistan, India, then deep powder in Engelberg, Switzerland. The compass turns north to Jeremy Nobis powering down some of the heaviest spines any skiers has attempted (unfortunately documented by shakey camera work that has trouble keeping the skier in frame). Welcome back Psycho Nobi. And then, the heaviest line of the year: Eric Roner skis a steep, technical chute that ends in a 500-foot BASE jump. Ground control to Major Tom.

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