UKBouldering.com

Project_Daihold films review (Read 2008 times)

cheque

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 3389
  • Karma: +522/-2
    • Cheque Pictures
Project_Daihold films review
February 27, 2018, 03:48:19 pm
Dai Koyamada should need little introduction to UKB browsers- he's as strong as a heavy bloke but only weighs as much as a skinny bloke. He climbs as hard as the best of current generation despite belonging to a previous one. With his quiet persona he's an eminently likeable guy too. These are probably the reasons why there's now a whole video production company dedicated to making films of his climbing. They've made two new chargeable downloads and you're reading a review of them.



If cliches are hard to avoid as a climbing film maker, they're even harder to avoid as a climbing film viewer and with a title like Nayuta V16 you have the suspicion that you're going to be watching a film with the time-honoured project story narrative. When drone shots lead us to a huge boulder of the kind that sponsored wads seige 30 move 8th grade megaproblems on in climbing videos then those suspicions are confirmed.

What's amazing about this film though is that while it does tell the story of Dai working the boulder, training his weakneses, emotionally very nearly doing it then finally sending it in shouty glory, it's presented in such a beautifully minimal and intimate way that it manages to feel fresh. Theres an original, orchestral-style soundtrack that's both unintrusive and fitting. The footage of the climbing is technically competent but in service of the action rather than itself and the natural sound has you right there with him.

But most striking thing is the complete lack of interviews or narration- even with such a simple structure, this adds an air of mystery to the proceedings. I honestly never expected to think "I wonder where he's going to go" at a rest day section. Dai talks unselfconsciously to himself and the film crew as he breaks down the problem over the sessions and the feeling is like being at the crag with him, waiting to have a go yourself. As such, when he's close to success, you're willing him on like he was your mate rather than the character in the film you're watching.

I started watching the just-as-minimally-titled Frankenjura with great expectations. This one's a trip report film and opens with possibly the best made example of the "airport and plane scenes from the journey" intro trope that I've ever seen.

Very soon after this however, you may well be checking that it's made by the same team as Nayuta, as it abruptly turns into what's essentially a "non-quality chuffing video". We see Dai's redpoint burns on his projects, which are almost always shot from ground level, an angle which does not flatter the routes of the Frankenjura or offer much differentiation between them. The only real break from this is an interview section in a climbing wall with special guests Alex Megos and Marcus Bock which seems to have been cut for maximum awkwardness.

Like many films of this type, if you're going to, have just been to, or are currently in the Frankenjura (particularly if you're after the hardest routes) then you'll be gripped but, unlike Nayuta, I can't imagine you wil be if not.

highrepute

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 1288
  • Karma: +109/-0
  • Blah
#1 Re: Project_Daihold films review
February 28, 2018, 12:28:32 pm
Cheers for this Mike

andy_e

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 8836
  • Karma: +275/-42
#2 Re: Project_Daihold films review
February 28, 2018, 12:36:04 pm
Useful reviews. I love Dai's films most of the time.

Perhaps there should be more of a thread called "I paid for it and watched it, knowing there was a rick of it being shit, so you don't have to". Then us cheapskates can save our money where more generous and adventurous types have prospered into the void and returned with a "what the fuck was that?"

 

SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2024, SimplePortal