Reel Rock 19- what did you think?

have they said when the movies will be out on the app for subscribers?

Daniel Guerra wrote:

have they said when the movies will be out on the app for subscribers?

Whenever the film premiere tour ends. They make some money off that first to build some buzz then put it on the app. The last date on their tour calendar is June 14th so I’d guess sometime around then?

Got to watch RR 19 the other night. 

DEATH OF VILLAINS: I like Kai. He always strikes me as a kind-hearted young man, so I support him and enjoyed the film, which celebrates his growth and success. As for Joe Kinder, I agree with one comment made earlier/above, "He could go farther and actually try to work against some of his own shitty behavior, but he’s on the right track." Maybe he does regret hurting others and learned not to be a bully any more, I feel that he's still not mature enough at age 45 to know not to always act out his throughts, which could make people around uncomfortable. Even if he's thinking about sex organs all the time (no judgement from me as I believe people cannot control their thoughts), he should know better not to put it out on display (there are two scenes shown in the film).

RIDERS ON THE STORM: I don't dislike the film, but it does not stand out to me.

THE COBRA & THE HEART: I think it's a beautiful and touching story. After watching it, I went back and listened to a few podcast episodes with Didier (Enormocast 286 and Tweener , Jam crack 137), and know that the film is a dramatised and romatisized version of their story, but that didn't take away much from me. I think Reel Rock missed their opportunity to name the film "Second Chance" considering it was their film "First Ascent" in their Tour #1 that brought Didier to the big screen for most of the climber audience. As for the Thomasina controversy... I only caught up by reading the RR statement after watching the film. I followed the thread about Charlie Barrett somewhat, and can see why some people want the film pulled or want to boycott RR19. If anything, this film best show cases that ANYONE's mind can be manipulated. Look, Didier was willing to give up his thriving climbing career along with every relationship in his life and dedicated 10+ years to radical Christianity. I believe that Thomasina was, to some extent, a victim of Barrett's manipulation as well. 

Truth be told, whether it's these touchy feely Reel Rock films we watch these days, the old school Rampage or Stone Master videos, or the new age Mellow Climbing, our mind is manipulated in some way. None of us is immune.

I’m surprised the climbing media has been amplifying Didier. Good climber or no, he abandoned his family….’nuff said.  Maybe Im missing something, but is his a good story? Now you see articles and movies about him about his climbing accomplishments..Alpinist, Reel Rock, etc. Personally I think he should have been a distant memory in climbing culture, the classic video of him throwing tantrums about not sending a route.. ”Come on, Didier”

RR19 had a clear theme of human fallibility and forgiveness (or at least acceptance). It’s interesting how many people resist that.

Karl Kvashay wrote:

I’m surprised the climbing media has been amplifying Didier. Good climber or no, he abandoned his family….’nuff said.  Maybe Im missing something, but is his a good story? Now you see articles and movies about him about his climbing accomplishments..Alpinist, Reel Rock, etc. Personally I think he should have been a distant memory in climbing culture, the classic video of him throwing tantrums about not sending a route.. ”Come on, Didier”

The guy did a horrible thing, but it's not like he was partying in ibiza and climbing around the world. He fell into a cult you know? Wild shit. He can be accurately described as a victim, just as his family is certainly victims of his decision to join the cult.

Ultimately we're all just people on the internet and it's not our lives to judge, or choose to forgive or not to forgive, or whatever. I thought RR19 was really good storytelling.

Hey Kevin, I didn’t watch the film, but from what I read on his Instagram awhile back he explicitly said he abandoned his pregnant girlfriend and chose ‘God’ over parenthood. As adults, we have agency so I think it’s a stretch to call him a victim. Did they hold him against his will? I agree that it’s not my life to judge and we’re all people on the internet…. but when you star in a film you can expect some criticism. I hope he can make up and provide some support for his family, maybe the film will help..

Saw it in Boulder a few weeks ago. Really enjoyed the Cobra Crack Didier Berthod film. I had heard Bethod on The Enormocast, which motivated me to attend the premiere. Would recommend going back at listening to the Berthod interview on The Enormocast.

Saw it in Boulder a few weeks ago. Really enjoyed the Cobra Crack Didier Berthod film. I had heard Bethod on The Enormocast, which motivated me to attend the premiere. Would recommend going back at listening to the Berthod interview on The Enormocast.

FYI, they've announced that ReelRock 19 will be streaming April 24. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. And I can honestly say that I've never seen a climbing film where a gear placement got a full throated cheer from the audience. Highly recommend these films. And a side note, my spouse is not a climber, and she loved them too.

What was that? Reality tv? Or a soap opera? Regardless, not much climbing to speak of. Kind of a cute little ABC after school special I guess. But if this is what a climbing movie is now, Count Me out.

Joe Hunt wrote:

What was that? Reality tv? Or a soap opera? Regardless, not much climbing to speak of. Kind of a cute little ABC after school special I guess. But if this is what a climbing movie is now, Count Me out.

Agreed. We need to craft more narratives around skill and not feelings. Just my two cents from this year. All for diverse perspectives but get those perspectives pushing to new heights or places.

Idk relationships are cool and all but I want things that make me want to climb harder and engage with our global climbing community.

Also let the douchebag in the first film be a douchebag. It’s his life - deal with the consequences. Not really a fan of using Kai as a priest or something to cleanse him of his bad behavior.

Totally getting a kazoo and climbing a multi-day pitch someday because those Belgians brought the vibes with the mandolin even if not that different from their prior films.

 Since my earliest rabid addiction to climbing films, via the 'live' BBC coverage of an ascent of the Old Man of Hoy in 1967 (which I must have seen on some US rebroadcast a couple years later, not having discovered climbing until 1968), I've found the evolution of sophistication parallel my own critical tastes. Horrible wastes of climbing talent in every film from Matterhorn/Everest/K2/Eiger Sanction exploitations pretty well rule out any major film until "Free Solo," with the Dawn Wall soon after.
But what may be worse, and symptomatic of a cultural malaise(and not just my Boomer ennui), is the use of far more advanced equipment to facilitate ever more shallow, uninspired, and cliched outputs. The modern realm of Reel Rock styled productions was really sprung from "The Endless Summer," a breakthrough 1966 shoestring production that followed a group of surf bums on a journey/quest around the world, which infused the surfing world with a cultish mystique that might have been hype, yet it worked on so many levels. Lito Tejada-Flores' similar effort, "Mountain of Storms," with a rag tag team of California climbers calling themselves "the Funhogs," driving a VW van almost all the way to Patagonia to climb Fitzroy in 1968, may still be the nearest to bottling the magic of the surfing classic for the climbing world at the time.
Maybe the facts, that Flores brother went on to produce the "Revenge of the Nerds" comedies, and that the climbers, Yvon Chouinard, Doug Tompkins, Dick Dorworth, Chris Jones, subsequently rose from dirtbag status, to movers and shakers, had something to do with the merits of the project; on a tiny budget, they still created a resonant glimpse inside the obscure and personal world of hard climbing for the sheer love of the game, refreshingly honest and unencumbered by the compulsion, to create some great testament to the Glory and Majesty of Climbing.
This aspect, of the filmmaker's awareness of how ultimately unimportant and meaningless even the most astounding climbing feat is in the greater scope of human affairs, may be the source of more 'modern' narratives, but most can't shake off how shallow, self-absorbed, and irresponsible the typical hard climber comes across.

Be a public figure

 expect public commentary

go figure 

Some Guy wrote:

Agreed. We need to craft more narratives around skill and not feelings. Just my two cents from this year. All for diverse perspectives but get those perspectives pushing to new heights or places.

Idk relationships are cool and all but I want things that make me want to climb harder and engage with our global climbing community.

Also let the douchebag in the first film be a douchebag. It’s his life - deal with the consequences. Not really a fan of using Kai as a priest or something to cleanse him of his bad behavior.

Totally getting a kazoo and climbing a multi-day pitch someday because those Belgians brought the vibes with the mandolin even if not that different from their prior films.

There are tons of climbing films about people struggling their way up some 5.14/.15 if that’s what you’re looking for, particularly in past Reel Rocks. How many times can you really watch Chris Sharma or Adam Ondra scream their way up some impossibly overhung sport crag in Spain or France or whatever. It’s the same narrative over and over again, and the climbing isn’t even relatable anymore. 5.15 might as well be a totally different sport than what I’m partaking in. It’s boring, frankly.

I welcome them embracing more personal stories and struggles that the rest of us can actually relate to, particularly in troubling times such as these.

Eric Aldrich wrote:

 Since my earliest rabid addiction to climbing films, via the 'live' BBC coverage of an ascent of the Old Man of Hoy in 1967 (which I must have seen on some US rebroadcast a couple years later, not having discovered climbing until 1968), I've found the evolution of sophistication parallel my own critical tastes. Horrible wastes of climbing talent in every film from Matterhorn/Everest/K2/Eiger Sanction exploitations pretty well rule out any major film until "Free Solo," with the Dawn Wall soon after.
But what may be worse, and symptomatic of a cultural malaise(and not just my Boomer ennui), is the use of far more advanced equipment to facilitate ever more shallow, uninspired, and cliched outputs. The modern realm of Reel Rock styled productions was really sprung from "The Endless Summer," a breakthrough 1966 shoestring production that followed a group of surf bums on a journey/quest around the world, which infused the surfing world with a cultish mystique that might have been hype, yet it worked on so many levels. Lito Tejada-Flores' similar effort, "Mountain of Storms," with a rag tag team of California climbers calling themselves "the Funhogs," driving a VW van almost all the way to Patagonia to climb Fitzroy in 1968, may still be the nearest to bottling the magic of the surfing classic for the climbing world at the time.
Maybe the facts, that Flores brother went on to produce the "Revenge of the Nerds" comedies, and that the climbers, Yvon Chouinard, Doug Tompkins, Dick Dorworth, Chris Jones, subsequently rose from dirtbag status, to movers and shakers, had something to do with the merits of the project; on a tiny budget, they still created a resonant glimpse inside the obscure and personal world of hard climbing for the sheer love of the game, refreshingly honest and unencumbered by the compulsion, to create some great testament to the Glory and Majesty of Climbing.
This aspect, of the filmmaker's awareness of how ultimately unimportant and meaningless even the most astounding climbing feat is in the greater scope of human affairs, may be the source of more 'modern' narratives, but most can't shake off how shallow, self-absorbed, and irresponsible the typical hard climber comes across.

This sounds like a bot that is trying to impress a girl at college.

hifno wrote:

This sounds like a bot that is trying to impress a girl at college.

FTFY

I try to do as little of that as possible. . .

Say what you will about Joe Kinder and his ways, but I was happy to see him get some recognition for his long history of contributions to the sport.

I want to like Kai, I do…. But beard or not, that boy has not grown up. He’s got some kinda Peter Pan syndrome. He calls his mom 2-3+ times a day and still (happily!?) sleeping in the same bed as mom. It’s not cute anymore, it’s an adult with boundary issues that are creepy and too foreign for me to get past… I want to like him… I do. I just can’t get past that…. It gives me the ick and seems so unhealthy.
The film almost amplifies and highlights just how G rated Disney he is… as a joke to belittle him? Cause that’s my reaction to it all. 

Shaniac wrote:

FTFY