Lost In Transition

With the invention, mass production and general price reduction in mini-DV cameras, coupled with inexpensive editing software and amateur production setups, everybody is a filmmaker nowadays. So amateur surf, skate and snowboard movies are coming out faster than - well maybe not as fast at those movies behind the video store curtain - but pretty fast. Its an indie-film revival period with corporate sponsors, and this hybrid release by Standard Films and a few young, talented editors is a perfect example. Maybe I just expect every ski film to be a Warren Miller film, but Lost In Transition has hot, killer footage, with no substance. You might as well put it behind that curtain too.

Shot in various countries and locations, with a focus on jibbers, urban riders and little groms, it’s a rail rider heaven. Backcountry and steep pow get charity coverage at best, and even then its Dave Downing, a solid rider, but its snowboard film filler. John Jackson has a few huge hits, and Eero Ettala’s montage is pretty decent too, but most sections are repeats of the next. The young kids are insane, if just to remind you of your lost youth and how fun it was to be immortal, but the clips are quicker than an Mtv commercial, so it all becomes background without a slow frame button.

It’s great to see the sport progressing, and continuing to evolve over the years, but so hasn’t skiing, with Warren Miller’s monotone narrating it through. Pop this in at 2am when you’re snowed in drinking at a Motel 6 across the street from the mountain. Whoever remembers to take it out of the player in the morning keeps it.