Nates honest thoughts on Tom Wallisch and JP Auclairs segment from into the mind

joris.blanc

joris.blanc

Member
So I just woke up to read this interesting review from Nate Abbott and thought to myself that it was spot on.

You can check it here : http://nateabbott.tumblr.com/post/68007772545 or just read it bellow.

So I lied. I didn’t write a full movie review at all, just some thoughts. Welp, writing isn’t an honest sport any more than road biking in the 90’s or 20-naughts. I wasn’t convinced what to think of Into The Mind until “Chapter 6: Into the Darkness”. After the four minutes and two seconds of that, I walked out.

That quick street skiing segment featuring JP Auclair and Tom Wallisch, which has spread like wildfire via electronic media over the past week, is nightmarish. I don’t mean the dated Justice track or the dark (ooooh, spooky!) spotlighting. I’m referring to the skiing it features, as a vision of the future of freeskiing. The tricks and presentation of the skiing are blander than the craft services food the athletes and uncountable crew feasted on during production in Calgary, AB. But forget about that, they ski through some trash! Skiing is, like, totally grimy, in an awesome Brooklyn (or Vancouver or Toronto!) way.

The segment is something the masses can understand because, haha, the skiing is harmless. It’s obscured and filmed dark because none of the skiing is worth watching—sometimes shadowy and obtuse is good, but when all it obscures is a couple 360s, missed grabs and the BANGER finishing 9-stair handrail, the quivering gloom is just a manifestation of being afraid or unworthy. It isn’t the brutal reality featured in other street segments from this year and it’s a weak presentation of the style and talent of Wallisch and Auclair.

Let’s not lie, it’s a great advertisement for Sherpas to get jobs—shoot for Visa, make a clip for Dunkin Donuts, the best footage some Coke-owned iced tea company could buy. I was going to say we should be more worried about this segment than about the Olympics, but you see, they made this for the Olympics, to take advantage of that groundswell. The tricks aren’t a worthy representation of the skiers’s talent, but the general public will never care. And gone is the environmental angle of JP’s All.I.Can street segment, replaced as far as I can tell with a “hire us for your commercial” yelp.

The cheap laugh is that the filmers and JP are Canadian, eh, so they ski across a hockey rink and Bertuzzi some motherfucker. My girlfriend chuckled, so I guess they succeeded at the whole, “make someone who doesn’t care fuck-all about skiing” part. Anyway, see you in Sochi (where we’ll be getting slow-mo, 1000 fps, 8k resolution landscape shots of the ski venues and and guy-in-the-sky action. Mom is gonna LOVE IT!)

So here’s my nightmare: 12 years from now, freeskiing is a novelty event, still in the Olympics, but, like aerials and moguls, with no passionate fans. So pass on by and embrace the amazing skiing out there right now. Buy The Wallisch Project, watch Ahmet’s Level 1 segment, cringe your way through Mutiny's gnarly reality, queue up Wreckalections or spend your time breaking down any of the other great street skiing edits—all available online now. Watch All.I.Can. I still believe it changed ski moviemaking (in a great way). The big mountain guys rip, the story has heart and JP’s street segment is among the best in the history of our sport. And finally, the next time you can, go skiing and think about our sport. Be true to it. If you’re inspired, take a photo, make a video or write a story about it. Skiers deserve that.

–Nate Abbott.

 
I went into the theater to see Into the Mind knowing that JP's segment from All.I.Can really couldn't be topped. I thought the Wallisch/JP combo was alright, considering some scenes from Into the Mind were just awful (snowboard halfpipe scene anyone?).

It was an alright movie, with an alright street seg, but nothing I was blown away with. Glad I saw the movie, but also glad I did not pay to actually purchase the movie.
 
good read. all i thought of that movie is callum p and kye p are the 2 best freeskiers in the world as of now and the effects and shit got out of hand. skiing was good shit besides the snowboard part
 
fuckkkk is everyone hating so god damn much! even big industry people! starting to get a bit ridiculous... sure the movie and segments are out of the normal but god damn doesnt anyone wanna see something different now a days? not all sports movies should follow the same pattern, and the same cinematography...
 
Yea moronic review. Completely correct in terms of the skiing, but when he tried to link it to a larger idea 'like the long term effects of skiing and the Olympics' it was completely unfounded and unsubstantiated.

I am so sick of these people citing fucking moguls and racing... Last time I checked snowboarding was in the Olympics last time, they seem to be doing just fine 4 years later. Stop dwelling on the future and trying predict the Apocalypse. Stop using evidence that has almost no value whatsoever, very unscientific way of thinking about things.
 
This is all that needed said, but it should have been with the opposite tone.

The movie is about the image they were able to produce so that a regular Joey could watch it and go "Whoa dang! That was neat!" it's not a showcase for skiing. And to be honest, I think that's a great thing. You can be annoyed by it and think it's lame all day long, but no matter how much progression or style you pump into the public's retinas, a straight grind will warrant a "cool beans" response just as much as a nosebutter 4 on to tailpress when there are some creative effects behind it.

Our industry can't survive without stuff like this that makes some kid think, "Hey, skiing looks sweet!" right before he googles "ski videos" and ultimately asks his mom for skis for Christmas. We have plenty of other movies to actually be stoked on.
 
I agree with this, but lets be honest within the community and realize that this is not the groundbreaking movie full of cutting edge tricks that some people seem to promote it as.
 
yeah, he was right about the skiing being really really tame and a bit lowest common denominator, but i lost him when he tried to go big picture with it
 
god this shits old,

and just because he's involved in the ski industry doesn't make his opinion more meaningful, stop trying to make something out of nothing
 
So much this. People trying to sou nd insightful and intelligent, when in reality they just didn't like the presention of some mediocre skiing. This isn't the future numb nuts, its just a ski movie you don't like
 
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Actually, it does. When was the last time you saw a ski media outlet (not named brobomb) come out with a less than amazing review about anything? It doesn't happen. That's why this is awesome. It's more than just words, it's a bigwig breaking the ice.
 
You should start sharing your opinions more often. 100% agree with you here.

Actual skiing > cinematography.
 
Complaining about a street segment in a big (holy fucking shit) mountain movie is like complaining about crabs after banging a 5$ prostitute... pretty fucking stupid in my opinion.
 
movie sucked, i was hoping for some radical, big mountain charging, pow slaying, big cliff dropping, bc booter throwing madness, but all i got was like 4 minutes of actual skiing mixed in with stupid lifestyle shots and an indian looking man twirling some draddle looking thing. i stopped watching halfway through..then i came back the next day and finished it (with pain becasue it was so fucking boring). this is why i dont buy ski movies, becasue they usually suck and the free content online is better.
 
But why not post it via Freeskier? Hell, why not post it on Newschoolers? And hey, shouldn't the standard in journalism be honest reviews? Nate Abbott is the senior editor of Freeskier -- which reaches 325,000 readers per issue... and I'd be willing to bet a large chunk of them would love to hear Nate's opinion (even if it's just as a secondary review), as he's the one driving the bus and telling them who's the hottest pro or what gear you need to have.

Here is the Freeskier's review for Into the Mind --

Into The Mind by Sherpas Cinema is the recipient of this year’s iF3 Award for Best Editing and Film of the Year. To sum it up, the film centers around an unnamed skier as he attempts to conquer one of the gnarliest mountain faces I’ve ever seen on film. Various athlete segments throughout serve as symbols of what is going through the skier’s head as he makes the decision to ski this high consequence mountain face. Into The Mind delves into the human psyche, exploring the balance between risk and reward; the decision to accept defeat or stand up and conquer goals that have not yet been reached; what drives humans (skiers specifically) to rise above the challenges in their lives and sport, and what is learned along the way. The film consists of thirteen chapters, each exploring a different mental process in the journey to ski this ultimate face.

The title, Into The Mind, is perfect, as the film does a magnificent job utilizing the various athlete segments to tell a story of the decision making processes, internal conversations, memories, etc… that flood the minds of skiers everywhere. Standout performances from Callum Pettit, Kye Petersen, Ian MacIntosh, Tom Wallisch, JP Auclair and more mesh perfectly with the masterful cinematography, directing, and special effects of the Sherpas crew. In this case, the usage of a main objective and surrounding stories that come to the head in the form of both failure and then success, creates a film that is thought provoking, relatable, and visually inspiring—thanks to the editing and cinematography, the showcasing of amazing places on earth that most can only dream of visiting, and the athletes that work so hard to make them come alive.

Here are some comments from NS regarding the segment, which were posted on November 14th --

"So... 2 1/2 minutes of guys playing around with their cameras and doing cute little editing tricks, a minute of quick shots of someone skiing by with sparks flicking away and 30 seconds of actual skiing... how'd this win SKI movie of the year? Cool ideas but these Sherpa guys seem to love themselves more than what they're actually filming and in terms of ski movies, that was fucking horrible. I hope the whole movie isn't like that but I doubt it."

"Wheres the actual skiing? That was all filler, no killer. I almost had a seizure"

"Pretty cool concept. I can't say it was one of my favorite sections of Into The Mind. If they had just made the skiing like 40% more visible i think it would have been much better. The move is great though.. this just happens to be arguably the weakest segment."

"that blew. i wanna see some skiing, not some artsy fartsy cannes bullshit. stick to the basics, filming some people doing cool stuff on skis, not projecting random fucking eagles on everything and trucking innocent ice skaters."

"felt like a lame olympics preview or something... dramatic music, stupid editing, weird juxtaposition with 'real mountain' skiing like urban is some new fad....."

"well that was weird as fuck. i've got so many questions. Why was there an eagle on a wall? Why were there so many 360s? Who and why was hiking the stairs all the time? Where did they get all that speed from? Whats upp with the 10ft banger handrail? like all im saying if they wanted to do a artsy ass street seggy. They could've done it a lot better then projecting eagles on walls and shit"

"First off all, the filming and editing was cool as fuck. But this needs more skiing! I actually agree with many of those who says this is just a film for the creators to show off their skills behind the lens. And for a movie like this that had like 4 million dollars in budget, could have done a lot better job with the sound-editing, the sound in this sucks ass! NEVER FORGETT THE SOUND!!!!"

"I heard this movie has a brutally low amount of skiing, and that edit proves it. Very creative, props for the filming and editing prowess but overall it was distracting and kinda hard to watch, could barely see a lot of the tricks. Agree with the homies above, the all.i.can section in Nelson and Trail was way better."

"I watch ski movies to watch skiing. If I want to watch an intelligent film, I'll watch some Kubrick shit or something."

---

tl;dr Great stuff Nate, I know posting something like this isn't easy... but why should honesty be an exception and not the norm?
 
This. Into the Mind was a skiing movie made for people who don't ski. Like Nate, I think it's a sad day when something like it can win IF3's film of the year. At the the same time I have to ask why Nate didn't put this out in a more public place for more people to read? Is he afraid of pissing of the wrong people and losing advertisers? I'm not a big fan of Freeskier but if they were to put more articles like this in there I would be on a subscription like white on rice.
 
Sorry Level 1, your movie was boring and same-same as the last 5 years while Sherpas actually put out something new and interesting. You mad they got budget?
 
I agree that Partly cloudy didnt captivate me as much as past level one movies have. I will also say that Into the Mind was the biggest disappointment in skiing history for me.

That segment sucked, JP's into the mind fucking ruled.
 
Can someone from calgary tell me where the spot at 3:22 is?

Also, embed

JP Auclair & Tom Wallisch Street Segment (from INTO THE MIND) from Sherpas Cinema on Vimeo.
 
While I totally agree that this did a mediocre job of showing Twall's and JP's full potential, I found this segment to be really interesting. As urban skiing becomes more and more popular, I have seen an immense amount of the edits be just shots sagging skiers hitting handrails to gansta rap. I am glad that someone is making something that is very different from the standard.
 
Easy there buddy- I'm giving Nate some props for speaking his mind which is very appropriate considering he wasn't so sure about publicly sharing his honest thoughts. People should be able to speak their mind whether it be to pass criticism or give props, something that doesn't happen enough in this industry with all the sales-inspired back patting and high-fiving.

I personally have nothing but respect for Mossop and Crossland (and JP for that matter)- they're producing content on a level that I one day hope to be able to... and as action sports filmmakers I count myself as one of their biggest fans. They're some of the most creative and artistic minds that this genre has seen and its awesome that they were able to make their vision a reality, both with this year's flick, All.I.Can, and their previous endeavors. Was Into The Mind perfect? No. Would I have done things differently? Sure. Would I trade Level 1's 2013 budget for theirs? Hell yeah! Is my goal with Level 1 to put more emphasis on capturing and showcasing action then an elaborate artistic vision? Yup. Does that make for a better ski film? That's up to each of you to decide based on what you want to see- different strokes, and plenty of room for a number of different film companies to be putting out a number of films, each with a different approach, vision, and style.
 
This so hard.

Too many people complain about how moviemakers do things. If you don't like their filmmaking style, don't buy the flick. It's just that simple. There certainly doesn't need to be an uproar to turn all film companies the same, with no variance in style or preference.
 
in all honesty i think that segment would have been SICK... as an intro

shouldve never gone viral, shouldn't even really be talked about for the skiing at all cuz that's clearly not what its about

 
I personally found the movie to be a very weak attempt to top All I Can. I do believe that All I Can was a standout/ breakthrough movie but Into The Mind was far from breakthrough. It was actually unwatchable. I mean what the F#$K was happening? It made no sense what so ever. I was stoked to the Julian Carr launch the cliff in Whistler and it was like a 5sec clip. I dont get it. I even had some random people stop by while I had the movie playing and it caught their eye but everyone ended up scratching there head. I mean ski movies are supposed to get you stoked to go skiing! What did this do? It made me want my money back from Itunes. It was like Sherpa grabbed their dick and started jerking it off all over the screen. I dont want to see that and dont think others do either. Like someone else said if i want to watch a film with metaphorical meanings i will watch Fellini or Kubrick. I also wish Nate went a little harder. Now can we talk about howmuch better McConkey was
 
See dude here is my issue: Why the fuck did you make an alias to post this? Why don't people talk shit and leave their real names? That is the kind of shit that is just fucking weak.

If you actually did just find this site and make an account a few minutes ago, then I stand corrected, but this shit is all too common.

 
yeah don't be a weak bitch post on your real account.

I think it comes down to just a very mediocre ski segment (for pros obviously) focused on filming and cinamtography alothough I wasnt a fan of the low light filming.
 
First of all, I agree with JoshB.

Second of all, I haven't watched the whole movie, only the urban segment. Which in my opinion was not very good. I didn't dislike it, but it was obviously not about the skiing, and since I'm all about the skiing, it just wasn't for me.

If you wanna do something "new", it shouldn't come at the expense of the skiing, which in my opinion is what happened here.
 
I don't know the answer -- that's why I posed the question. Here are some possibilities though.

Maybe he did want to post it, but got shut down by his sales team. Maybe he did want to post it, but got shut down by his publisher.

Maybe he didn't think it was something the Freeskier readers would be interested in reading.

Maybe he knew you'd find his review and post it on Newschoolers, and planned to use the thread to break the streak of Freeskier staff never posting on NS. Maybe Sherpas paid Nate to write it -- any press is good press, right? Who knows, maybe Nate quit Freeskier to start writing Real Deal Reviews for Brobomb.

You get where I'm going with this? Uhhhh... I mean, I really hope you do get where I'm going with this (the last few examples were me trying to be sarcastic by answering my own question).

I don't know the answer, so I asked the question. The alternative is me making assumptions, which is something I try to avoid.

Nate is a smart guy, and understands that all the people involved with Sherpas (most likely a large chunk of his friends) were going to read it. I'd be surprised if he didn't expect someone to ask the same question I did as well.
 
I think perfect balance lies somewhere in the middle. After watching both movies (PC and ITM) I think the two can learn a lot from each other. Was Ahmets skiing better, I think so. Was Sherpas cinematogrophy better, I think so. Imagine a movie with propotional amounts of crazy hig-def eagles and skiers that rip. I think a movie like this would be a real game changer.
 
Well I will tell you mr. imlach.

I did just sign up.

I dont like to post my name all over the internet if i dont need to.

I think the guys at sherpa are SUPER talented I just thought it was not their strongest attempt at making a follow up movie. Im just a little suspicious of the people claiming it was the best movie of the year.

Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one. If I wanted to hear it, I would fart.

Its pretty darn stinky in here right now.

 
I have absolutely no issue with your opinion and you expressing your opinion, I just fucking hate it when people use aliases. It's fucking weak.
 
why the fuck do people hate on that segment, it was different and cool. sherpas cinema doesnt make ski porn videos they make films, geddit?

if you want to see Tom slay urban watch his solo movie that he spent all his time on. how greedy are you fucks?
 
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