TFCM Award - Climbing Movie Reviews

Movie: Autana (2012)

Alastair Lee really nailed the early-2000s style film here, which would be cool if it hadn't come out a decade later. A lot of reality-tv type filming and editing going on here, including some strange forced-feeling interviews and an ayahuasca sequence that's strange but did leave Leo with some fucked up sores on his feet. Plus like a light sepia tone or mega-HDR filter on everything for no reason. That being said, there's some engaging actual drama in the film - essentially smuggling themselves upriver to the site. I'll definitely never say Leo fakes his adventures between shit like this and parachuting out of a plane to Mt. Asgard and a number of other batshit things this man has done.

The hike through the jungle to the tepui looked brutal but honestly drags on quite a bit (much like I'm sure it did in real life). Once the tepui climbing started, the movie really got engaging. The Autana caves reveal was unbelievable too - honestly just some of the cooler footage I've seen in a film in quite some time once things started picking up here. That being said, it's really not as much of a share of the film as I'd hoped and I wish a bit of the fat on the front end had been trimmed off a bit.

Leo Houlding shows why he's such a climbing legend in the film and why it is absolutely insane that the man is even still alive at this point. A truly british version of the dodos - both in nationality and mentality. 

Conclusion: A full-fledged adventure film with an unfortunate amount of fat around the edges. Some mind-melting shots interspersed for sure.

Movie: The Asgard Project (2009)

Been on a real Brit Rock kick since the films got added to Reel Rock Unlimited, so I've been real tight with Alastair Lee lately. This film does start with, in classic Leo Houlding fashion, a batshit insane sequence of Skydiving into the basin in Baffin Island where Mt. Asgard is - just airstriking the ground with their gear caches. A very strong start to a film that then immediately devolves into a 25minute sequence on base jumping and sky diving that is all too-common of climbing films in this era courtesy of the rising popularity of base jumping in the climbing community around this time (Dean Potter, etc, you've already read it in my reviews). 

30 minutes into the film we get some climbing finally and boy does it seem like a sufferfest with the cold. That's essentially the storyline for the rest of the film - really interesting looking climbing (though large parts aid) through extremely cold conditions. A tough place to be on belay duty to be sure. As they progress up the wall, the conditions get worse but the climbing gets more and more interesting. 

The last 20 or so minutes of this film is where it really shines, with stunning footage of the scenery, inspiring climbing, relatable meltdowns, and typical Leo film grit push to the summit and a for-some-reason-necessary-in-this-era base jump. This film really suffers from a brutally slow start and I'm not sure I can necessarily say the payoff at the end is worth it - but it is a sequence that folks should see. 

Conclusion: A decent film that really suffers from a slow start. Watch the first 5 minutes, skip the next 25, then finish the film.

Movie: Stone Locals (2020)

This was conveniently available on the plane for my recent Greece trip so I figured it would be appropriate to give it another watch. TFCM regulars are probably familiar with my appreciation for films that discuss the “Why”s of climbing, and that’s pretty much the only focus of this film. The thing that this film does better than most though, is that it touches on so many different aspects of climbing - not just the relationship between climbing and self as a movement and challenge, but the relationships within the climbing community and one’s self, between the climbing areas and one’s self, the adventure and one’s self, the education and one’s self. 

This film focuses on 5 different stories related to climbing and alternates throughout them in the movie - which honestly, is a beautiful way to both tell each individual story as well as allow the viewer to piece together the bigger story that all 5 tell together. While there is some great climbing footage in this film, it seems to exist only to bolster the message being told, which is really rare to do correctly.

Patagonia films are generally of quite a high quality and this one is no different. Mikey and Cheyne absolutely crushed this movie and it’s one I’ve watched a ton of times and keep coming back to. I remember being floored by it the first time I watched it and every time I revisit it it forces me to step back and reconsider a lot about my interactions with the sport, the community, and all that it encompasses. I’ve never really been a “I love the climbing community and feel like I’m a part of it” type guy but this film sure does swing me a bit that way each time. 

Conclusion: A phenomenal film for connecting with climbing on a deeper level. An injection of stoke to the heart instead of the head :^)

Movie: Reel Rock 10 (2015)

Reel Rock seems to go through peaks and valleys on its offerings, and Reel Rock 10 was definitely a peak. Starting off with the Line Across the Sky in Honnold and Caldwell’s Fitz Roy Traverse - which honestly is just about peak Tommy/Alex show. It’s when Honnold thought he was the funniest person on earth but before he thought everyone else thought he was the funniest person on earth. Beautiful shots, I mean this movie is truly suffer candy. These two have a habit of making suffering look enticing together which is all you can really aspire to as a crew.

Next is D Woods and his work on The Process and his fight for ability to jive with highballs. Despite climbing unimaginably hard, this film actually almost humanizes D Woods as it shows him struggling with something many of us do - commitment to hard moves above pro, even well below our limit. Also nice seeing Nalle on film again. Overall it’s not like mind bending but it’s a hell of a film for being the weakest in the movie.

Last is Showdown at Horseshoe Hell with Honnold, Mason Earle, and Nik Berry and wowie this sure is where the obsession with this event started for many of us - and while I still haven’t been picked, this is another one that inspires the urge to suffer in the watchers. Good humor, good fun, and a sense of excitement. Truly a banger to finish on.

Conclusion: One of Reel Rock’s best, endlessly entertaining and makes you want all that climbing has to offer.

Wow it's been a while! Good news - Brian Solano just dropped some old movies on youtube! Here's Spray, a movie I reviewed a while back, as well as today's review

Movie: The Players (2009)

While I had good memories of the movie Spray, it had been a while since I had watched it - and re-reading the review had me coming into this movie with a bit of trepidation as to what I'd find. One look at the cast list for this climb, however, should shut down any concerns. Joe Kinder, Chris Sharma, Alex Puccio, Dave Graham, Emily Harrington, Ethan Pringle, D Woods - I mean this could be a Reel Rock lineup. And man, it sure is refreshing seeing places other than norway for hard climbing again.

The film also offers a look at some areas that for some reason hard to find in films sometimes - Rifle and Fortress of Solitude, Moe's Valley, Independence Pass, etc - in addition to some classics in Font, Hueco, RRG, etc. The film also showcases something really rare in climbing films that focus on hard climbing - something I like to refer to as "fun looking climbs". Climbs that make anyone want to get on rather than just folks looking to crimp until their eyes bleed. I mean - Orangutan Overhang at Independence Pass - are you serious? That thing looks unbelievably fun and worth a trip if not for its 5.14 price tag. 

Overall this was just a fun film. A true capturing of the culture at the time. I genuinely enjoyed it and thought it was a noticeable step up in quality from Spray, though doesn't really have any sort of gripping narrative that I like to see in a film to give it a really high review. Folks who still love skate style movies though will likely see this as one of the better ones - ever, honestly. Also perk? Not a completely dogshit soundtrack that plagues a lot of climbing movies from this time.

Conclusion: 7.8/10

Movie: Valley Uprising (2014)

You know, I originally started this thread to kind of keep track of climbing movies as I watched them, in order to try to parse through what my all-time favorite climbing film is. Something that would hold up to re-watches, that provides endless stoke, and that really gets to the heart of climbing for me. The fact of the matter is that the answer all along is the first climbing film I ever saw - the one I watched before I ever tied into a rope or put on a pair of shoes - Valley Uprising. 

We found that our dogs do way better with separation anxiety if we leave the TV on when we leave the house. Originally we tried Animal Planet or squirrel videos but those didn't seem to do much for them - so we switched to Red Bull TV as a joke. Turns out, our dogs are actually hella chill and they loved it. As anyone who spends a lot of time on Red Bull TV knows, Valley Uprising comes on constantly. I've probably seen this movie - not exaggerating, somewhere between 30 and 50 times at this point. If I come home and it's on, I'll sit down and watch it to its completion every time. 

Some films may do a better job on portraying the history of the area they cover. Some may have more aesthetic footage, feature more legendary climbers, have better soundtracks (not many, though), paint a more cohesive narrative - but none do all of these jobs as well as Valley Uprising does. I've watched this film with lifers, with gumbies - hell we even watched it with my grandparents a couple of months ago. Valley Uprising does a remarkable job of appealing to everyone on the climbing spectrum.

Ultimately no film has inspired me to want to create and contribute to the climbing ecosystem like Valley Uprising has. Whether it be pioneering new lines, wanting to create a film, take photos, help maintain my local areas - just anything to seek out the fire shown in Valley Uprising in my local community. 

Conclusion: Classic. Variable. Timeless. Quite frankly - The GOAT.

Movie: The Pathan Project (2019)

Just barely long enough to make the "minimum 40 minute" cutoff, the Pathan Project is Nico Favresse apart from Sean Villanueva - a sight I imagine many folks here have never seen. Despite that, this film is still reminiscent of many of the duos films (e.g. Dodo's Delight, Wolfgang Climbing Team, etc.). Jean-Louis from the Tepui Wolfgang film actually makes another appearance here as well. This time, to a remote, unexplored mountain range in Pakistan.

The film's setting is borderline indescribable and has a beauty to the landscape that mirrors but differentiates itself from what I've seen in any other climbing media - it legitimately just looks like a made-up place in many of the shots. Basecamp looks like a blast with an in-house chef and a stunning panorama, the rock looks endless and inspiring, and the group's music is honestly a notch above what we're used to seeing in films.

As it relates to the actual climbing - that actually falls a bit shy of the standard we've come to expect from these sorts of films, with the climbing itself looking - at best - like a cool multipitch, and - at worst - like an absolute sufferfest. The route pictured specifically doesn't exactly inspire droves to come out to try and repeat their adventure. Similarly, there isn't quite the same chemistry between the cast - specifically with Mémé (Mathiew Maynadier), whose constant complaining and strange, unprovoked anti-American comments have him waffling between easy enough to tune out and full-on insufferable. Lastly, the film has a bit of a narrative about Mémé's accident but it's pretty out of focus and ham-fisted and probably could have been done in a better way. All of that being said, this film is still fun, beautiful, and worth the watch.

Conclusion: Microdosing of the Dodos with some hard-to-beat visuals.

Movie: On the Verge (2020)

Speaking of Valley Uprising, On the Verge is an Arcteryx film in a similar vein based on the Eldred Valley - a veritable Yosemite Valley rewound 70 years. The story of a beautiful area coupled with the story of a beautiful life, and the story of a beautiful forest. The way this film ties together the potential of Eldred as a new climbing area, the fierce preservation of the nearby old-growth forest, and the lives and loss of those involved with both is pretty remarkable.

The shots in this film really are gorgeous, and what's equally as breathtaking as the setting shown is the complete dearth of climbs in that setting. It is genuinely mind-boggling that this place exists and would be completely unheard of by the standard climber - heck, even most PNW-based folks I know have never heard of it. The sound design for the film plays a great part in helping nail the overall emotion as well, you can tell a lot of thought went into pretty much every part of the film.

What struck me the most about this film was how much everyone advocated for the Eldred as an ecosystem - it's not just about the climbing but also about the life of the entire region. The old-growth trees, the local flora and fauna, the river - everything. The discussion of the valley is as if the valley itself is a living entity - a being created as a sum of its parts. I think that's beautiful and something that isn't mentioned as much in climbing films where folks choose to just focus on the climbs available and the quality of rock climbing instead. 

Conclusion: A beautiful, introspective film that initiates a deep hunger in anyone pining after new, realistic adventure opportunities. Equal parts climbing and preservation.