Review of Blank Paper Studio's Snowboard FilmIN SHORT

Thursday night in Portland Oregon was the American Debut of In Short:, the latest film from Blank Paper Studio—the European masters behind 91 Words For Snow, and The Gap Session.

It is imperative to say right away that this is one of the most clever, introspective, stunning, hilarious, true and all around amazing snowboard films that truly conveys the essence of Shredderdom; ever. The Brains of the brothers Benedek (David and Boris) and Christoph Weber should be entrusted with the key to the city of snowboarding for this feat. They stray as far away from the “banger-crappy soundtrack-banger-arbitrary lifestyle-banger-coolbeerweeddudes” as possible, and instead stuff their project with amazing cinematography, scarily real point-of-view shooting (including a sequence of a snowboard’s lifecycle; from the forest to the hill—truly epic), time lapses that The Discovery Channel would crap over, and a worldly soundtrack (which includes a song perfectly scored by Toymaker for one of the sequences.) Their story telling never dulls or indulges in itself, which is due to their stringent timelines for their film. Their cutting room floor would be most filmmaker’s goldmine. They knew it couldn’t be an epic, but making sure of this, kind of ensured its epicness…

Without spoiling the beauty of the film, this is why you should get it: In Short consists of five short stories. Each unique in character and feel. Watch the birth of a snowboard, the prodigious talent of Brits with some wet carpet and tow ropes, the serenity and zen that you will never know about snowboarding in Japan combined with the insanity and hilarity you will never know about snowboarding in Japan, how perfect jumps are catalysts for perfection-hungry jumpers, and finally what it takes to get a few shots in Alaska…which is a milestone for snowboard documentation in itself. As serious as some of the film is, and as seriously awesome as it is in its entirety, it’s also very light and riddled with great humor.

The premiere was such a hit in Portland, that they needed to show it twice, for the first showing sold out. And the party ruled. Eric Messier, Mikey LeBlanc, and of course David Benedek—The stars of the Japan segment—were on hand for the festivities. Mikey accidentally punched his teammate Eric and David cried. After all, it was his party.

In Short, I would write an A on a piece of blank paper for these bastards, but instead I used the piece of paper to wipe this joke from my butthole. Freaking idiot. Don’t mind me, just go enjoy Blank Paper’s movie. It’s goddammed freaking A-some.

An end note: Keep your eyes on the newsstand for the upcoming feature in Snowboarder on Blank Paper’s trip documented by Daniel Blom, and, uh, Me. It was the best trip ever, and maybe if you read the magazine you will understand. Keep reading. Yeah, it’s good for you.