Netflix didn't post my review

So here it is. I borrowed Warren Miller's The Power of Snow: Cold Fusion from Netflix and here's my assessment:

This film continues in the long tradition of Warren Miller: pseudo-profound adolescent commentary, used-car salesman humor and unimaginative footage of fabulous skiers on world-class terrain. As with many Miller films, I see so many lost opportunities such as:

1. Never any comment on technique -- you can't learn a thing from  his films even though he shows terrific skiers doing fabulous runs on some very hairy terrain.

2. Never any explanation of how they got the shots -- the fascinating back-story of a ski/snowboard movie is the daring of the cinematographers from either helicopter or right on the face with the performers.

Miller's very early films may have been good (I can't actually remember) but this current stuff is a waste. Thank goodness for Netflix that I could simply borrow the disk and didn't waste any money.

Comments

[Glen Raphael]

I think you might not be the intended audience for Miller's films. I've liked many of his earlier films, but I haven't run out to see them in recent years because after a while they all started to seem pretty much the same. There are only so many ways to show (and wryly comment on) people falling off a chairlift, bouncing down a mogul field and jumping off a cornice, and Miller's done them all by now.

But that said, one watches a Miller film for inspiration - seeing fantastic skiers in fabulous settings gets you excited for the next ski season - and simply to appreciate the aesthetic experience. Explaining the mechanics of the filming or the skiing would hugely detract from that.

When you watch a soloist in a symphony performance, does it bother you that the commentary doesn't explain how to play a violin better? Or talk about camera positioning?