ANYTIME - A Movie Review 8

Long live long-form storytelling.

iceman2058

9/19/2024 4:30am

When was the last time you went to the movies?

We live in an age where digital entertainment overload has shortened our attention span to the point where kids who grew up with a phone in their hand seem unable to function most of the time without a device to constantly swipe on. Sitting through a feature film used to be our occasional high-water mark of artificial sensory stimulation, nowadays it’s rare to not see people reaching for their phones in the middle of a Hollywood blockbuster screening because their minds are unable to slow down to match the pace of the story being told by the filmmakers. How many Instagram stories can you catch up on during that 5-minute lull in the action? Far too many to remember, that’s for sure – but at least you’re not missing out, right?

Those of us who were around the sport some 15-20 years ago can recall anticipating the next big mountain bike movie release like kids before Christmas. The Earthed, Kranked, NWD and Collective/Anthill crews would trip over themselves trying to one-up each other with every new film, and we were all wearing out the tapes watching our heroes progress the sport right before our very eyes. Then the social media revolution happened, instantly connecting everything to everybody, and media project shelf-life soon fell victim to the insatiable cravings of hordes of newly addicted digital junkies. Add in a little bike industry uncertainty and the short-term, return-on-investment demands of big corporate owners, and the number of major MTB movie projects being released these days has dwindled down to a mere trickle.

The story itself, however, lives on. It thrives. In fact, it has probably never been more interesting, impressive, and awe-inspiring. The red line may sometimes seem lost in the relentless tsunami of bits and bytes coming at us daily, but it’s there if you know where to look.

Anthill and Red Bull know where to look.

They also know how to slow down time. High-quality optics and slow-motion shots are incredible tools for bringing out the details and showcasing style, but so is pacing the action. From the painstakingly slow upward progress of a hike-a-bike ridgeline section to the intricate webbing of dried out, sunbaked dirt, Anytime serves to point out just how much can be missed if all you care about is the next banger. Make no mistake, the bangers are plentiful, but taking the time to paint the canvas is how you create memories out of moments. Any time can be filled with wonder, anytime. Give this film your undivided attention, and you’ll be rewarded with a renewed sense of awe at the majestic beauty of our planet and the boundless skill of the riders. You might even find that it’ll set you free from the shackles of your phone, if only for a short time.

Free. A word that can mean anything and nothing. In mountain biking, it means being free to ride anything and anywhere. The film opens and closes with breathtaking scenes of big-mountain freeride madness with Brage Vestavik and Kade Edwards on the scree slopes of Chile (the level of risk-to-reward here proved to be a bit too much for a third protagonist), but then chooses to explore other riding destinations without any thought given to what freeride “should” be or in what order this story should be told. Thomas Genon has a fantastic segment on his hardtail slopestyle bike in the streets of a Mexican town, Emil Johansson sculpts a very Semenuk-esque line in the green hills of California, while Carson Storch, Casey Brown, Brett Rheeder and Robin Goomes blast down fresh new trails in Oregon. Is there a Utah segment? You know there is, but this time there’s a twist: it’s the women holding it down in arguably the most iconic freeride setting of them all. We are certainly witnessing the beginning of a new era in women’s riding, and the fact that there is no tokenism at work in in this project illustrates just how far they’ve come in quite a short period of time. They deserve their screen time, and they absolutely made the most of it.

It is said that history repeats itself. Anytime builds on the legacy left by all the riders and filmmakers who went down this path before today, and extends an invitation to those who are already making plans for tomorrow. Clips of old projects are sprinkled in throughout the movie to serve both as the foundation and a point of contrast that illustrates the incredible progression that is still occurring on all fronts – from the riding to the filming and editing. The absence of a story line IS the story, as the cameras capture an intoxicating mix of beauty and bravery that makes an hour seem like 5 minutes. Will it stop the doom-scrolling? Perhaps not permanently, but it will fly the flag for proper storytelling until the next one. We’re hoping we won’t have to wait that long.

Kudos to Anthill and Red Bull for carrying long-form mountain bike entertainment forward, and shoutout to Shimano, Maxxis, Bike Kingdom Lenzerheide, and Evoc for making it possible to continue doing so.

You can watch Anytime on Red Bull TV for free as of today.

Words by Johan Hjord