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First Descent

Director:
Kemp Curly & Kevin Harrison

Cast:
Terje Haakonsen (II), Shawn Farmer, Nick Perata, Terje Haakonsen, Shaun White

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language and a momentary drug reference.

Review:

This is the second film of an accidental trilogy. I don't know if and when there's going to be a third one, but back in 2001, Stacy Peralta's “Dogtown and Z-Boys” (not to be confused with the crappy fictionalized remake he wrote the script for) was a perfect sports documentary from someone who had been there. This film we've got here is the second.

Kemp Curly & Kevin Harrison are snowboarding enthusiasts who've done some stuff for MTV, and they somehow managed to cobble enough money together to grab top notch cinematographer Scott Duncan, some state-of-art equipment, and about three or four helicopters before getting snowboarding legends Shawn Farmer and Nick Perata to go up to Parata's cabin in Alaska with teenage phenoms Shaun White and Hannah Teter and have the four of them go up to the tops of some heavily vertical peaks and swoop down to the bottom. They were quickly joined by superstar Terje Haakonsen and you've now got the makings of something special.

Of course, just having five people hanging out and snowboarding, even with such incredible scenery, might get boring to those who aren't into the sport, so Curly and Harrison intersperse the group's excellent adventure with interviews back home and a short history of the art of snowboarding itself, from a silly novelty called a “snerfer” in the mid-1960s to the triumphs of the 2002 winter Olympics. This gives context to what's going on in the Alaska wilderness. It's really cool.

If you like snowboarding, or if you just like scenery, this is worth a look-see. It's also a good reminder why going to the local bijiu is sometimes better than renting a video or DVD.

Eric Lurio