Heart Films have carved a niche for themselves over the past few seasons as a rootsy, powder-oriented outfit from Japan. These guys don’t really care if you ride on a snowboard or skis so long as you share the love for freshies – as the description on the video puts it, Volume 7 is “a movie about shredding in the mountains”. Which somewhat begs the question: what were volumes 1 to 6 all about then?

Nevertheless, their heartfelt (geddit) enthusiasm is enough to win anyone over, as is the footage of big airs (0.32), epic ragdolls (0.42) terrifying avalanches (0.50) and of course, tits-deep snow (0.00-2.00). Maybe it’s growing up surrounded by so much yuki (snow) but the Japanese definitely have a refreshingly pure take on snowboarding that shines through even when filming in the familiar surroundings of Whistler. In an era of sometimes po-faced rail slaying, this movie looks like being a welcome slice of surf soul.

Starring: Takafumi Konishi, Akifumi Hiraoka, Yuta Watanabe, Yu Sasaki, Futa Adachi,
Tomohide Inoue, Geoff Brown, Taisuke Kusunoki, Tetsu Kawaguchi, Shikaichi Ueki
Kazushige Fujita, and more