Cover photo: McRae Williams with a crazy line in Switzerland.
Photo: Voisin
Level 1s Pleasure is out now oniTunesandVimeo.
I was lucky enough to get an early look.
Im sure enough of you will have seen this at premieres now to add your opinions.
But my take is pretty simple: Damn, its a beautiful example of ski filmmaking.
In the broadest sense, this isnt a revolutionary film.
But for me this is their tightest package yet.
To me, its difficult to compare new ski films now with those of 5 years ago.
It launches with a street assault from LJ, Khai and new addition Jonah Williams.
LJ slides impossible rails, Khai has impossible finesse, and Jonah fits right in.
Hes one of many new additions who Id hope to see make real careers in filming.
Next up is Sami O and Rob Heules adventure in BC, which is one of my favorite segments.
LSM did the same in Float and Id draw strong parallels between that edit and this segment.
For me, this is going to be a massive part of the future.
Every segment has standout tricks and things that would make me watch them over and over again.
There are tons of strong segments in the mix of this film.
Perhaps my favorite segment of the whole film was Magnus and Peybens adventures in Finland and Russia.
But the skiing is mindbendingly special and the editing itself was fantastic.
Alongside Peyben and Jonah whom I already mentioned a definite theme of the film is breakout performances.
Hopefully we see more of these guys in years to come.
The final segment is based around epic deep days in Pleasurestoke and the surrounding mountains.
Nobody is smoother, nobody makes skiing look more effortless.
Maybe come winter theyll release some rider segments (psst, Josh, hint hint).
There are also riders I’d love to see more of, Mitchell Brower springs immediately to mind.
As the narrator says he fucking sends it.
He is almost the yin to Rainvilles yang.
Raw and reckless, every line is a heart in mouth moment.
There have been so many ski movie narrations and storylines that can only be described as cringeworthy.
But in Pleasure the narration is, well, a pleasure.
I genuinely laughed at moments, I cant think of the last time that happened in a ski movie.
