It’s not uncommon for sports films to center on major rivalries and the back-and-forth competition involved. We recently saw one on the narrative side with Rush‘s Formula One battle and like the life-altering dangers found in that story, this fall brings another tale in the same vein, but from the world of snowboarding. Premiering at Sundance, Lucy Walker‘s The Crash Reel follows a young snowboarder named Kevin Pearce and his rise to stardom — at one point he beat Shaun White with consistency — and his stunning and shocking injury that left him in a coma and the throes of death heading into the Olympics.
We loved the film, saying in our full review, “I’ve never experienced the level of successes that Kevin had, but I’ve known what competition feels like in sports and the rush that you can’t replicate anywhere else. There’s an addictiveness to it that is the reason you have so many weekend warriors. Within this frame, we begin to understand why someone who has a traumatic brain injury (TBI) would be willing to risk their life in the pursuit of that thrill.” Check out the trailer below, which features Grizzly Bear’s Sun is in Your Eyes.
The epic rivalry between half-pipe legends Kevin Pearce and Shaun White is documented in this exhilarating ride into the world of extreme snowboarding. With both practicing more and more breathtaking and dangerous tricks leading up to the Vancouver Winter Olympics, everything suddenly changes for Kevin when a horrific crash leaves him fighting for his life. When he recovers, all he wants to do is get on his snowboard again, even though medics and family fear it could kill him.
The Crash Reel opens on December 13th, after airing on HBO.