world movie premiere – spray

i hit the boulder theater last night to catch the world premiere of brian solano’s newest climbing film spray. the theater was nicely packed for a cold snowy night in boulder, colorado. people really seem to love all things rock climbing in this town.

after a few promotional exercises for folks that included the access fund, timberland, and smart wool, the film started with a quick and casual survey of some known and undiscovered northern californian climbing and bouldering spots including the beaches of arcata, the limestone of the trinity aretes, the shores of mickey's beach and the alpine stone of donner summit. the film focuses on climbing areas right up against the very wet pacific ocean but occasionally travels inward to more inland areas.

one thing that will strike you about this movie is the emphasized pairing of music with climbing problems. at times you feel like you are watching segmented 4 minute music videos. the pairings work mostly. there were times however when i wished i could just hear the ocean and nothing else. someone should compile a cd of the movie’s tracks though. the songs would make for a great climbing road trip album.

spray follows four climbers but focuses mostly on joe kinder and chris lindner. joe provides the appropriate californian “taking it easy” vibe while chris provides the more serious philosophical perspectives. i found chris to be the more interesting of the two characters, but i understand why solano included joe.

my one criticism of the film is that i wish it had taken more risks with its story lines. i also wanted lindner and especially kinder to be complex characters. at one point lindner starts talking about how his father broke his back trad climbing and how that influenced chris’s decision to focus on sport climbing. i was intrigued by the possibility of this narrative but was a bit disappointed by its cursory treatment. similarly, i wish joe had been a bit more vulnerable and raw in his conversations. he gets close to this point when talking about how chris sharma inspired him by climbing surf safari (5.14) at age 14 but the exposure is brief. i guess i was hoping for a little less spray.

the best part of the film was watching lindner grunt and fail his way up his first ascent of “window of opportunity.” the scene was smart, compelling and worth the $13 admission charge. the crowd seemed to agree.

it’s hard to make climbing films that transcend the “porn” genre. or better said, it is extremely challenging to make sport-specific films that shed light on our complex and universal humanity. solano does an admirable job with spray. he’s a young filmmaker with great potential and i look forward to seeing more of his films.

if you get a chance, go check out the movie. you can order a copy of the dvd at the bs productions’ website.