Between the sheets with Keith

I watched Keith's new film this morning. His last one, 'L'Entranger' was nicely shot, made Font look good, but ultimately (I felt) lacked a human element. It became (in my eyes) a beta film - useful to see how things got done, but it was just clips of problems with nothing to join them together. Of course, it was a climbing film, and what is a climbing film if not a series of clips of people climbing? well, thats the thing - what separates the good ones from the pack is some form of narrative, a thread to bind the clips together, a story - the aforementioned human element. Summing up what I thought of L'Entranger, I thought it was ok, but do I want to see it again? no. If I was planning a trip I might make myself sit through it, but ultimately I'm glad I didnt pay for it.

As Between the Trees starts you could be forgiven for thinking you had tuned in to a music video. The opening sequence is nothing short of awesome. Its artistic, witty, clever and beautifully executed. Keith clearly has a real eye for cinematography, talent at the technical aspects of film making, and not to mention attention to detail. This film looks slick from the outset. Another criticism I had of L'Entranger was that I hated the titles. They were garish and in some cases partially obscured the action. He's certainly taken that on board - perhaps too much. In places I had to search the screen to see what was being climbed, but there were also some very clever bits - the partage titles for instance.

One of my favorite films is StoneLove - which is all about the dynamics of the group, the young guns coming through, and of Moffats last swansong. This I think separates it from the rest. In Between the Trees, the story is partly about the relationship of Keith and Tyler. Both of whom are really seriously good climbers, but Tyler... Oh my god. This guy is on the next level. He's like Malc in StoneLove. He has incredible movement skills and is a very pleasing climber to watch. Just how good comes into perspective when you see Keith (who has climbed 8b) humanly struggle on things which Tyler seems to dispatch effortlessly.

This is a good film. I started watching it from the default position of thinking that it would just be another selection of clips, and flicked through - it is. But watched end to end, its a journey, a story about Tyler and Keith, and a study of cutting edge kinaesthetic awareness. Keith has filmed beautifully. The lighting, the angles - all wonderful. The editing is supreme - I loved the transitions, the sync to the music - awesome. As I have said before - beautifully executed. But.... I still think that theres room for even more of the human. This is a pure climbing film. You couldnt show it to a non climber -well, you could, but they would be bored. What films could you show them? Would you want to? I dont know.

Go buy it. Well worth the money.