A Sneak Peak At Between The Trees

Narc — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:09:42 +0000

Keith Bradbury from UncleSomebody sent me a copy of his soon to be released movie Between The Trees the other day and asked me to give it an “honest” review. I was more than happy to do so since I was already eagerly looking froward to seeing how he told the story of Ty Landman’s impressive trip to the bouldering mecca of Fontainebleau. Unfortunately, I ran out of time in the run up to my Hueco trip, and I was only able to half watch the movie as I did 50 other things on my computer. Since I couldn’t give the movie my full attention I can’t give a full review, but I can share a few quick thoughts.

From a visual standpoint the movie looks good, but the Reel Rock Tour and movies like Progression have set the bar almost impossibly high when it comes to climbing film making. One comes to expect sweeping visuals and many different angles, but that’s not possible for every filmmaker. Overall, Bradbury does a good job considering that the “film crew” mainly consisted of himself and a lone camera.

The main aspect of the movie that I missed in my multi-tasking was the overall storyline. I can’t really say that it worked or not since I missed a lot of what was being said in between problems. From what I did see, the interviews were mostly interesting and I enjoyed that fact that Landman often pointed out how it’s not always the most difficult line that is the most satisfying to send.

The one thing I can assure you of is that there are a lot of problems shown in the almost 70 minute movie. From a climbing porn standpoint alone the movie should be very intriguing to anyone that has wanted to see more of the bouldering in Font. The grades of the problems shown are almost irrelevant because Landman makes most seem effortless, but they do range from moderate up to V14.

BTT will be available soon from the UncleSomebody website as either an HD download (roughly $20 US) or a DVD (roughly $25 US including shipping). As is the norm these days, the DVD comes with extras you won’t get if you go the download route. I was only able to watch a couple of the extras so I can’t say if they justify the extra cost of buying a DVD. One of the clips I saw featured Landman talking about some of his climbing philosophies, while the other showed some additional problems. Promising, but I need to see the rest before I can decide one way or the other. My guess is that most people who buy the movie will go the download route as that is just easier.

I’ll try to provide an update when I get the chance to watch the movie again.

Between The Trees Teasers

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Climbing Video: Ty Landman Fontainebleau Film Teasers

Narc — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:09:57 +0000

I think it’s safe to say that Ty Landman had an above average stay in Fontainebleau earlier this year when he dispatched numerous classics in the forest up to V14/15. The trip was so successful that according to at least one source it caused Landman’s motivation for hard climbing to wane. Indeed, other than a few random sightings on Phil Schaal’s blog Landman has maintained a pretty low profile since his trip to Font. But I digress…

Capturing many of Landman’s ascents in Font on film was Keith “Uncle Somebody” Bradbury. You may remember Bradbury from his online film 85 Days In Fontainebleau, something I highly recommend watching if you haven’t already. Hard at work editing the latest footage, Bradbury put together a pair of teasers (seen below) for an upcoming (and as of yet unnamed) DVD project Between The Trees, which he introduced with these words:

When success is all around it drips into you and it pulls you upwards, allowing your imagination to run wild and sometimes your body blindly follows. This was how it was for me spending those weeks with Tyler in Fontainebleau. Nothing seemed impossible, only difficult. Although, for Tyler it seemed as though nothing seemed difficult, only mildly challenging. We quested around a lot of areas as I showed Tyler what I consider to be the best of bleau, and he mopped it all up. Some problems were added to the list and some were inevitably erased, but the result is a whole host of 5 star problems.

This film will hopefully represent the very best of Fontainebleau. The classics, the hidden gems, the hardest, and the most beautiful. There is footage of a great number of hard problems, some of which have never been seen on film, so I expect that everybody will see a problem that they either don’t know or have never seen climbed. Once again, the bottom line will hopefully be inspiration. Inspiration to go climbing, to visit font, and to have fun in pursuit of what we’ve all chosen to make a big part of our lives. If it manages to do that then it’s measured as a success in my book.

Check out the teasers:

Climbing Video: Ty Landman Fontainebleau Film Teasers from Climbing Narcissist

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Climbing Narcissist » Between The Trees

A Sneak Peak At Between The Trees

Climbing Video: Ty Landman Fontainebleau Film Teasers