Published in Whitelines Magazine Issue 93, December 2010
Unless you’ve miraculously found a way of reading this magazine without opening the plastic bag it came in, you will have noticed that there was a DVD in there. And if there wasn’t, then you need to go and have some serious words with your newsagent!
What’s the DVD then?
Welcome Home.
Thanks, but I got home a while ago. I was just about to watch a snowboard film. Can you tell me what it is please?
No you douche, that’s the film. Welcome Home. Well, Welcome Home Vol. II to be precise.
Ah ok. I get you now. What’s with that name?
Well, in case it wasn’t already bleedin’ obvious, this movie follows on from last year’s film of the same name. The basic idea underpinning both movies is this – riders’ know their local resorts better than anywhere else, so why not have them show their team-mates all the best spots? Each of the riders gets to welcome their team-mates to their home and shred the best spots with them. Not only that, the riders get to show off some of their local culture, all of which makes it into the movie adding a bit of extra flavour. As Elias Elhardt puts it:“We had a blast, both on and off the snow!”
Who’s in it?
Alongside Elias, the fi lm features rising French stars Victor de le Rue, and Victor Daviet, talented young Finn Janne Lipsanen, Swedish ripper Nils Arvidsson, long-time Rip Curl pros Darius Heristchian, and Remi Lamazouere, as well as Mati Raedelli, Dani Sastre, Martin Seiler, Nate Johnstone, and Matthias Nyberg.
Sounds suitably exotic, but are they up to much?
Hell yes! What’s really noticeable is how impressively good a lot of Rip Curl’s young gunners are. Elias is only 22, but he stood on several slopestyle and big air podiums last season. Here he demonstrates that he is much, much more than just a competition machine. Despite his compact frame and relatively burly style, his big spins into powder, improvised half-cabs off cliff drops and the ease with which he gets inverted are all reminiscent of a certain Mr Müller – who happens to be a hero of his. Victor de le Rue, the younger brother of freerider Xavier and boarder crosser Paul-Henri shows that he’s inherited the same remarkable snowboarding gene as his brothers – except that he’s decided to turn his talents to freestyle. His nines all ways off monster booters are made to look ridiculously easy. Fellow Frenchie Victor Daviet is also in possession of a few nice spins, and the Finnish ripper Janne Lipsanen looks happier upside down than the right way up! A special mention must also got to Nils Arvidsson –the man stomping the double back rodeo 9 on last month’s sequence page – whose incredible array of technical trickery makes him one of the film’s standouts.
You’re being diplomatic there – c’mon, who’s got the best section?
No-one gets individual sections smartarse. The movie is based around their travels, so you see all the riders hitting up the zones together – and often boosting off the same hit one after the other. Elias guides them around Germany, before they head to Riksgransen with Nils Arvidsson, Switzerland with Martin Seiler and Argentina with Mati Radaelli. All of which gives you an interesting insight into how snowboard movies are actually made, and gives the filmers plenty of time to develop the bromance between the main players.
Yeah, don’t I remember some hot-tub scenes from the teaser?Is there something you’re not telling us?
There are hot-tub scenes, but don’t worry, Rip Curl provide all their riders with board shorts. And anyway, the hot-tubs are all part of the cultural experience. So don’t you be making jokes about the fact that it’s made by two Frenchmen (Olivier Pictet and Julien Mata) who go by the name of French Kiss. Of course not (snigger!) Anything else you want to tell me? Yep, the soundtrack is awesome, featuring feel-good tunes from the likes of The Casio Kids, and the Argentina section will make you wish you’d gone there this summer instead of cooking yourself on a beach like everyone else. Stick it in the player and see for yourself!
WELCOME HOME VOL II – NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH: Welcome to the Jungle, Welcome to Hell, Home Alone II, Home on the Range or Home & Away.
