We’re hanging out at the Bean Cycle with Kate and Mark when I notice this movie starts in ten minutes at The Lyric Cinema Cafe. We try not to make Kate run on her recently injured ankle. (Every time Mark says “slower”, we slow down for about 2 seconds – why is it so hard?) The promise of social movie watching with beer and couches is pretty much delivered on. Ann has a little trouble seeing from her seat, but manages.
So what about the movie? It’s a history of extreme skiing, and I think a pretty honest presentation of it in all its white-male-infused glory. There is definitely some genuine insight into the characters that populate this short history, and some deftly edited comic moments for contrast. The footage is all spectacular and makes me long for the mountains, but it gets caught by the trap I see inherent in these movies – the mountains become just a setting for death-defying stunts. It’s exciting, but feels cheap the next day – I guess that may be part of the origin of the term “ski porn”.
It makes me worry, will I ever be able to express the joy I get from much tamer outdoor experiences without having to sell it with stunts? I hope so.
5 responses to “Movie: Steep (2008)”
lol. i’ve long been calling these types of movies “porn”. and that is what they are.
it was an epiphany. i was up in Chico looking at a Surfer Magazine. it was an article on a contest at Grajagan(sp) in Tahiti.. somewhere in the south pacific. this endlessly peeling perfect machine-like point break. eveyone trunking it. just ripping.
i was like “This is porn. This ain’t even close to any reality i can imagine. This is dulling my senses.”
sure sure. i could go to G-land. maybe even surf there. but not like these guys.
you make a good point about how it boils down the mtns to death defying stunts. totally. i mean, i know most of those folks are all blood sweat and tears. but the vid makes it look like you put on some cool looking clothing and hit some primo spot and just rip. it’s heartless, in a way.
whatever.. who am i to talk?
http://declinemagazine.com/view_contest.php?winners=&latest=&prev=&next=38
Maybe we need to make a movie about some white guys that get all jazzed up on sport porn, then go out and suck so bad that even the falls are lame 😀
HAHAHAAAAAAAAA!!!! dude. the right script and actors, it’d work. like Napoleon Dynamite + Jackass, but not done in reality show fashion. NO, there is some reality showness to it!
yah yah.. there is so much more to it than big air. i always remember people asking [about surfing] “Can you do aerials?”
it just had nothing to do with surfing. the question was actually vile to me.
sure.. snowboarding, biking.. air is much more a part of that. to me, it was a perversion of surfing.
still.. hit me up later for the movie thing. obviously, i got some photo cred. w3rd.
you do just fine at expressing your joy for outdoor experiences just by writing in this blog…nothing death-defying ever inspired me to do anything, but I’m sure this blog inspires people like me to climb mountains and write websites and use linux and anything else you write about. It probably doesn’t sell as well, but as long as that’s not what you’re after you’re doing a pretty good job.
That’s an awesome complement! Dewey definitely wins the cyberhobo flattery award today!
This blog is fulfilling for me, but I still feel like I fall far short of the intensity of my feelings and values. I can’t help but wonder what I’ll come up if I have the time and motivation to really pursue what I care about most…