Into the Mind (2013)

hyped garbage

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Cmon. The skiing is amazing. This movie is not and it's way OVERPRODUCED.

"Into the Mind" sounds like a pretentious title for a ski film, but in reality it's flawless, and surprisingly moving, from the beginning to the end. It ups the artistic standard for sport movies to a whole new level, and takes your mind to a crazy voyage.That means it's a great film not just for skiers but for everyone. All.I.Can (the first movie) was great for skiers, and had a nice message, but was far from being as artistic and universal as Into the Mind. The fact that there are almost no words (which you might not like if you have a short attention span) makes it all the more powerful.On top of all this, the choice of music is just awesome! The way the soundtrack is edited, and the timing of the whole thing is perfect. Whoever made this soundtrack is a genius!In short it's a flawless movie which I would recommend to anyone, even if you're not interested in skiing. I hope to see more artwork like this from Sherpas Cinema in the future.

'Into the Mind' is an intense, unrelenting, and at times difficult to stick with film. All the same, for those who want to sit down and watch a film that requires a little thought (a rarity in the extreme sports genre) it is a highly rewarding hour or so.Straight off the bat, this is not meant to be a ski-movie, but rather a movie in which the central character happens to be an elite skier. We follow him as he tries, fails, and then tries again to conquer the goal he has set himself. In aid of this we are treated to several flash-backs and cut-aways which illustrate his state of mind, his hopes, fears, aspirations and beliefs, as well as the path he has trodden (literally and figuratively) to get to where he is.All in all these scenes are highly effective, using extreme sports (in the main part skiing, but also touching on others) to illustrate the battle we have with nature and our own will during the course of our lives. However, the film-makers tend to take it a little too far adding symbol into symbol, allegory into allegory, with one too many wildlife shots, one too many rotating landscape sequences, and not enough human interest. This in one sense is understandable, as the stock in trade for more narrative extreme sports movies is just to cut in fly-on-the-wall footage or the protagonists talking to camera. 'In the Mind' is definitely trying something new, and largely succeeding, but in places it feels like the film-makers just finished their "101 in Image Metaphor" at film school, and are trying to bundle in as much as they can.Speaking of image... this film looks AWESOME. Clearly they had a budget for the highest quality of cameras, and had the people who knew how to use them. It is the kind of footage that brings tears to the eyes, and is so good that most of the time, even if you don't get/like what the film is trying to do narratively, it makes it worth watching anyway.Skiing wise this film is also mouth droppingly good... in my own subjective opinion, i've not been this wowed by the things they are skiing and how they are skiing them since snowboard film 'The Art of Flight' and Sherpas Cinemas' debut 'All I Can'.That said, I'm only giving this film a 7. Why? Whatever the producers might say, it's clearly a ski film. It has been marketed as a ski film. Although there is some amazing skiing in the film, I don't think the film makers have managed the balance between providing enough awesome skiing and telling the narrative story they wanted to. Considering that ultimately the protagonist decides not to take on the quest that is driving him, there is no pay off or climax in terms of the amazing line we are waiting to see at the end. For those who have bought into the premise of the film, that's not too much of a problem, but for those who started watching just for great skiing, and stuck with it in the hope that at the end the guy would smash the monster mountain, that might come as a massive let down. I started watching this film as a ski film, and it was luck that I happen to like art film as well, but I don't think I can recommend this to a lot of my ski friends, and that has to speak volumes.

Wow, was I impressed after the first five minutes...Wow, was I overwhelmed after the first ten minutes...Wow, was I speechless after the first 15 minutes...and wow, was I bored after the first twenty minutes...It never stops. It never comes to rest. It just keeps going and going and going. Between the tides, night and day, spring and autumn, summer and winter, life and death, breathe in, breathe out, jump up, jump down, vrooooom, it just never stops.This is INSANELY good footage of, well, kinda everything. This is not a freeride movie, it's not a spiritual movie either, it's not an ongoing introduction clip of great athletes, it's not a permanent product placement film either. It's an ongoing flick about showing off how much budget was burnt. It is meant to feel inspiring - yet it quickly becomes tiring. Have I already already mentioned that it just doesn't stop? It keeps bombarding the viewer with probably the best footage ever assembled for a film with this, uhm, theme.Everything is so perfect, ...for a moment. But its relentlessness to stay top notch in every second ruins the whole adventure. You can't get attached to anything because the film won't let you. It just speeds on in light speed and doesn't give you any insight on anything except pure awesomeness. In the end, after seeing and hearing all this expensive material you end up feeling kinda empty.Also the "chapters" are very forced. In fact there are no chapters as there is no developing story. Instead we have very cryptic titles for the forthcoming music video (called "chapter"). It actually makes me sad. There was obviously so much potential, so much money, so many talented people - but in the end the film appears like a life long trailer of itself.