I was at the gym Rockquest in Cincinnati recently for a youth climbing competition. During one of the frequent spells of downtime I was perusing their DVD rack when I noticed that they were basically giving away copies of BS Productions compilation movie The Life. Given that I had always wanted to see what The Life was all about, I picked up a copy.
From the beginning, it is clear that no professionals were involved in the shooting of the movie. I guess you would call it raw video which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You just need to know what you are getting in for when you sit down to watch the movie. You should also be prepared for a slew of tantrum induced F-bombs and loads of rap music. With those things in mind, the big plus is that professionals were most definitely involved in doing the climbing.
Dave Graham is the big star and there is footage of him throwing down some pretty cool problems. Routes like Livin’ Astro (5.14b/c, FA) Breakin’ The Law (5.14b, FA) and boulders like Maze Of Death (V12, FA) and Salamandre. It was espcially cool to see Dave paying for his FA of Livin’ Astro, presumably to the guy who equipped the route.
As for the non-Dave Graham climbs there are a smattering of different climbers like Luke Parady, Chad Greedy, Joe Kinder, Jason Kehl, Adam Osterhoff and many other notable Frontrange hardmen. An additional bonus appearance by Mike Call in the role of climber instead of filmmaker was cool to see as well. Locations ranging from Rumney to Switzerland to Southern Illinois to Yosemite to Bishop to the Frontrange provide a nice variety of climbing and road trip shenanigans.
To summarize: there is not much visually redeeming about the footage in The Life, but the climbing is a more than adequate substitute. Basically the definition of climbing porn. Add in a slew of old and pretty historic FAs and it makes for a cool movie.
If you would like to have the opportunity to steal this movie right out from under me, leave a comment on the DVD Giveaway post for your chance to win 1 of 4 movies.
Thanks for the review. I am going to hook up ClimbingNarc readers with a deal on The Life. 5 bucks plus shipping. I am currently traveling, but will be back in the office tomorrow and will set up the sale via Paypal. Stay tuned….
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If anyone is interested in picking up a copy of The Life, click the link below to get it for only $4.95 + shipping.
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=bsolano514%40yahoo%2ecom&item_name=The%20Life%20SALE&amount=4%2e95&no_shipping=0&no_note=1¤cy_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%2d8
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