This is going to be a LONG POST, skiers with ADD beware.
Okay, so I've watched it three times now. Please, no bitching about "oh, didn't like it, then fuck you, you need to watch it x times for it to be good". Because I did like it, but sadly I was also disappointed. Last year I saw Red Tape, and I wasn't too disappointed, because I didn't expect much. The Iceland segment sent shivers down my spine, it crowned the whole movie, but it was short and left me sitting in my underwear, eyes wide open and asking myself: "Where was the money shot?" There really wasn't one, and you won't probably find one in White Shine either.
Here's the deal: I absolutely love Exact Science. It was more than an attempt at something different in ski movies. It, along with Level 1 films, should be the most influential piece of ski ...softcore porn to be taken lessons from. The mood, the music, the rider friendly approach, everything just snaps into place in that masterpiece. This is where I start to wonder: where did Plehouse go wrong with White Shine?
Well, they didn't go wrong so to speak, but they picked an another approach to skiiing: traveling with the D-Team. And that's certainly what is going to happen in White Shine.
The film starts with a very powerful intro, it is beatiful to look at and you just hope it would go on just a bit longer.. But i definately gets the job done, one of the best intros in snowsports history. I can only imagine the hours that were spent making that happen.
Then the movie really gets going. JF Houle slays rails like it's not his business, more like a birth-given right. He does get a bit woozy on every spin over a 5 though, and that's what made me a bit annoyed: sure it's not his fault, everyone who is new to BC jumps can't get perfect in a second, right? He's a great hope for the future and probably another Plehouse regular.
Next comes one of the weirdest and most inventive segments available: the junkyard section. Thomas Rinfret is the man. He rails 270 on to a fucking Volkswagen Beetle. The team assembles most spectacular gadgetries for some skisliding, but the fun of this segment ends much too soon. This part contains creativity, that is needed in any sport.
Konichiwa, I say. Japan, says Plehouse, as Belan, Bibby and others venture to Japan to mostly stand in the crowd and eat some sushi. This segment seemed very good at the beginning, but I was just lost at some point. It really didn't get me hyped at all, but I'm sure that's not the case with a lot of skiers. Highlights of this part include a huge watertower wallride and... yeah, that's about it.
Ahh, back in Ame-ri-kah. It's time for the D-Team to visit the infamous West Coast resorts and some urban shenanigans tend to take place there too. Belanger and Larose finally rip it up, but for such a short instance that it's all lost. Dom Legare does the weirdest rail baffoolery ever, he like, shakes on the rail like some discotheque freak, it looks very nice. JF Houle hits some wooden rails ,c'mon now, you had your own part JF, quit hogging everyone's precious screentime! This part also contains the only appearance of Sarah Burke in the movie. I can't understand why, she just rips with sw 270 on to a double kink and a bs 270 off with steeze, shizzle, stylio of great cuteness, it's actually very rewarding to glance at, considering that Kristi Leskinen's parts have been instant "skip-overs" after the first watch. Thomas Rinfret finishes the part with a marvelous tree jib, but you're still aching for more.
Parle vous Francais. Or something. Gozar the Traveller has arrived..oh wait, wrong movie. The team hits up Quebec, which I understand was the birthplace of the Three Phils, correct me if I'm wrong. This part is mostly urban destruction by Gagnier, Houle, Schiller and the main guys. Iannick Broullette's section leaves much to think about: why so few shots? Still, it's a very cool little segment with an appearance by Phil Casabon, the crazy little Armada grom. The section ends with some gnarly crashes by JF Houle and he walks his ballbusting agony off like a true man. Hear hear.
Now comes the shortest section of the movie, but it is also the most memorable. Of the three sections with only one rider, JP Auclair, the King of The Kings has one. The whole part is very sick, JP destroys everything in sight, not in the same way as JF or Gag, but give the man some credit, he still rips harder than half the pros out there. The whole segment just makes you giggle your ass off, it's accompanied by some weird Riverdancish Irish folk music. A very entertaining piece, but it ends far too quickly, by this time you start to wonder if Plehouse even shot too much the whole season.
Le Massif. The same place, where the picture of Gagnier on the NS.com login page originates from.That very jump is seen in the movie, it was a bit sketchy. JP Auclair, Bibby, TJ Schiller and others soar the skies for a second or two in airtime, while a chopper hovers over them for a little longer. TJ demonstrates how to grab both of your skis with minimum effort and maximum style. Still, it wasn't no MSP heli shoot, but still, it wasn't the same shit as every year, so..
Europe. The best section in the movie in my mind. The music sounds like a nineties technosong, I'm sure I've heard it before somewhere, but it's the skiing and editing here that counts. Beautiful lifestyle shots coupled with a good, hardy flow and the sickest grabs I've ever seen by none other than Mr. Chuck Gag. Ultratweaked nosemute you hope you would find in SSX, the bluntest of the blunts that would make Tanner's ciggys impotent, and finally, probably the most perfectly executed doublegrab, looked like a critical-japan with both skis and a huge cross!!! Damn son, can't wait for Gagnier's real part!
Well, here it is. What a disappointment. It is a good segment, you can't go wrong with that, but some how.. It didn't feel good or look too good to me. Gagnier busts sick tricks over a huge roadgap, demonstrates his urban prowess and shows us the longest railrun in history with so many spins on and off that you get sick just by the thought of it. To some, especially Gagnier fans, this part should feel very good. Well, I am a Gagnier fan, and the whole part felt a little heartless, no soul. Just a dry insrtumental in the back, and almost no editing, just a run after a run. I'm sure many will find this part the absolute culmination point of new tweaks and rail tricks, as it partly should be, but I'm a man that's hard to please.
Ahh. West coast again.. weirdly enough, there's a lot of the same locations in this part. Phil Larose, TJ Schiller, Marie Martinod and Josh Bibby. This part is great, the music was really good in my tastes and it flows nicely, but then, it suddenly comes to a halt! What the crap, the movie ended.
My gripes about the film are mostly MY gripes, so you can talk shit on me, don't talk shit on Plehouse. The lack of Rinfret, Belan and Larose is what makes this movie average. They are the heart and soul of Plehouse films to me, as they are the founders too. There isn't that much skiing in the movie, but it is up to par, so you can't go wrong. It's only the length of the film that matters the most to me. S6 felt short although it was long due to a great flow, but imagine that same kind of flow with a really short movie like this, only 31 minutes, it's over in a zinch. The abrubt ending also felt a little bad, the Iceland segment in Red Tape was miraculously well done, but now suck a segment was missing from the entire movie. It saddens me very much.
The good things in this movie, there are plenty. First of all, this movie isn't for everyone, but to those who really can see it for what it is, a stunning movie, are going to coveth over this DVD like that freak from Lord Of The Rings. The length also makes for a good quickwatch in the morning to get you stoked to get on the hill and ride, to have a great time. I know I may appreciate this movie the more I watch it, as happened with Exact Science, but the same spirit that lingered in Exact Science, the movie that made me hooked on Plehouse just doesn't seem to be there. This movie has exceptionally beatiful lifestyle shots, but I thought many of the skiing shots lacked.
But all is not lost! There's a whole movie worth of footage in the bonus, as there is a making of, deleted scenes and whatnots. I hope a good year for Plehouse, and I feel that next year they might really blow the bomb in freeskiing videos. I give this movie a 8- , but I guess it would be worth a 9½ for someone who really appreciates it.
Thanks for reading, comment on my review.
