Since the start, Outdoor Adventure films have strived to articulate the inconceivable reason for why adventurist risk so much for such little tangible reward. Sherpas Cinema’s latest movie, “Into the Mind,” tackles the challenge in explaining these complex motives.
Since their last award-winning film “All.I.Can,” Sherpas Cinema embarked on the two-year project that is now “Into the Mind”.
The film requires a deep level of concentration, and the loose story line alongside minimal dialogue leaves a lot of room for artistic interpretation to the audience. I interpreted the plot as a story about facing the ultimate challenge. The movie gives a strong insight into having the courage to risk everything in quest for personal growth and achievement.
Despite its name, the movie has a very physical characteristic about it. The music beats in time to a beating heart, and the movie moves so quickly that you never really get a chance to catch your breath.
Viewers fully experience such places as Alaska, Bolivia, and the Himalayas in the film. With the most advanced cinematography, Sherpas Cinema blurs the lines between dreams and reality and submerges the audience in the mind of skiers who attempt to climb and ski their “ultimate mountain.”
“Into the Mind” is broken up in to 12 chapters that reflect the circle of life. The chapter titled “Death” is particularly poignant as it follows Johnny Collinson, Kris Erickson, and Kye Petersen to Bolivia. The segment follows Kye, who lost his father to skiing, as he receives a blessing by a local shaman and then heads back up into the mountains.
Despite the large amount of metaphorical and artistic intent, the core of “Into the Mind” lies in radical skiing. It shows Julian Carr’s descent of Air Jordan, a huge inbounds cliff at Whistler, Chris Rubens charging pillow lines at Eagle Pass, British Colombia, and Ian McIntosh straight-lining near-vertical faces in Denali—and that’s just to name a few.
This film is cutting-edge version of a very new and increasingly popular category of film, Outdoor Adventure. This all-encompassing genre ties together advanced cinematography, a story that reflects the human condition, and a very raw sense of true adventure. “Into the Mind” is a perfect film for those who have a passion for the outdoors and want intellectual engagement in a very creative way.
Emelie Frojen