BY MELISSA BEARNS
Natasha Zurek drops in
on an ice-wave during
the filming of Warren
Miller’s latest movie,
Impact.
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Where’s the Impact?
Warren Miller’s newest film is tried and true.
E
very year for the last five decades, the
new Warren Miller film marks the
semi-official beginning of the pre-sea-
son. It’s tradition. It gets us checking the snow
reports and web-cams and dreaming of deep,
fluffy powder days. We go out and buy gear.
We fondle our season pass. We wait impa-
tiently for the snow to fly.
It’s tradition to drink beer, get rowdy and go
see the new film with a huge group of buddies
you haven’t talked to since the parking lot tail-
gate party that closed out the season last year
(another tradition). And these days, tradition is
the only thing that saves Warren Miller.
This year’s film, Impact is better than last
year’s film. It’s good. Not great. Fun. Not
heart-pounding. The soundtrack has every-
thing from Coldplay to Billy Idol and it’s damn
good. The film itself focuses less on the ath-
letes chumming around and more on what they
can do on the slopes. It keeps you entertained,
if not riveted, for about an hour. Unfortunately,
it’s 90 minutes long and the last 30 minutes
features ski superstar Glen Plake in a weenie
bikini water skiing (YUCK!) and a lot of other
yawn-worthy water footage.
One very cool thing about Impact is that
Miller chose to shoot about half the footage at
ski areas in the U.S. including Snowmass
(Colorado), Park City (Utah), Big Sky
(Montana) and Steamboat Springs (Colorado).
It’s a welcome reminder that you don’t have to
be on a heli-adventure in the peaks of Alaska to
find epic lines. After watching film after film
created by the younger generation of extreme
filmmakers with way too much bratty bro bra,
the mature, professional attitude of the athletes
in Impact was a breath of fresh air. They keep
the focus on the turns not the toasts.
But it’s becoming painfully obvious that
Warren Miller and his crew haven’t spent
much time on the hill lately. In one of his narra-
tions he goes on and on about how skiers and
snowboarders are getting along great these
days, how we’re all just out there for the love
of the mountains and the snow. Um, conflict
between user groups was so ‘90s.
His paternalistic attitude toward the women
in the film detracts as well. For example, he in-
cludes a spoof on Charlie’s Angels. If the
women were actually treated like the incredi-
ble athletes they are (we’re talking Olympic
gold medalists here), it would be funny. But
throughout Impact Miller throws in comments
when talking about the women in the film such
as “Where she leads the men want to follow.”
They’re annoying, not funny, and underscore
that this film is put together by someone from
an entirely different generation than most of
the people watching it. Nonetheless, Miller
gives women the opportunity to represent by
including amazing female athletes in his films,
something today’s young directors still fre-
quently fail to do.
And the most memorable and funny part of
the film come when Miller takes a crew of
skiers and snowboarders to Bulgaria where
they hook up with Kalina Nikolova
Simeonova, a Bulgarian native turned Vail ski
instructor. She narrates this section with a
thoughtfulness and intelligence that is rare in
extreme sports films.
Freeskiers are almost completely left out of
Impact, another glaring sign that Miller is to-
tally out of touch. You could attribute their ab-
sence to the fact that Impact focuses more on
big mountain backcountry than crazy park
stunts. But he teases us with a few lame rail
slides and nothing more.
The only stomach-churning moment in the
film comes when skiers and snowboarders
launch a sickeningly huge step-up gap jump.
As younger companies including TGR and
Oregon-based moviemakers Rage Films and
Ambush TV push ski and snowboard films to
the limits, Warren Miller continues to play it
safe with the tried and true: big slopes, big
names and sweet lines.
He has the money to take his crews all over
the world and produce films with cinematic
quality that rival the best in Hollywood. See
Impact because it’s tradition, because the peaks
of the Cascades are dusted with snow and be-
cause you need a fix — not because you’re look-
ing for a film to get your adrenaline pumping.
ew
Impact plays Oct. 28 at the McDonald.
SATURDAY, OCT. 30
8:30pm • $5 • ALL AGES
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There’s always weddings, banquets, a
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staverdancesport.com
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YOGA WEST • 3635 HILYARD • 686-0432
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HALLOWEEN PARTY!
SIN
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198
9
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We look at the whole picture, consider
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Integrated Care Including:
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Massage Therapy • CranioSacral Therapy
Acupuncture • Physical Therapy
Hot Stone Therapy
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Licensed Massage Therapists:
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492 E 13th Ave, Suite 200, Eugene
In the Bijou Theatre Building
This is your chance to get the family’s snow
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KI 2004
WAP
S s
35th Annual
October 28-30
Lane County Fairgrounds
Wheeler Pavilion
Bring Your Consignments
Attend the Sale
Thursday, Oct. 28 • 9am-9pm
Friday, Oct. 29 • 9am-5pm
Friday, Oct. 29 • 6pm-9pm
Saturday, Oct. 30 • 9am-6pm
$1 Admission Friday Night Tickets available
at the door beginning at noon.
www.eugeneweekly.com
OCTOBER 21, 2004 59