Today I blame rain, but for various personal failures I have not skateboarded in a full week. Displaying a complete lack of commitment I did other things. However thanks to a purchase on Itunes a few weeks ago, I have been able to fantasize about skating at a much higher level of ability than I actually skate. Here I will briefly review ‘Bon Voyage’ the new skate video by Cliché. In short I recommend this one.
First of all, the soundtrack is a lot of fun, and makes one amped. One not only wants to skate after viewing this, but one wants to go clubbing in European locals. Cliché is originally French, but seems to have the focus to have a well-rounded international skate team. The music goes from Brit Pop, Electronica, 1960’s type beach music, French Rap, underground rap, and some soul. Also this is very much focused on the skating, there are no skits, interludes, or unnecessary footage. It is simply skate part after skate part. One trend I see continued from what I first saw in ‘Pretty Sweet’ by Girl is shared parts. Some of the parts have two or more riders in a montage style. So the part could start with one skater, go to another, and come back to the first skater. Visually I like it, for a good song that might be a little bit longer it makes for a better viewing.
In that style, this video has one part simply called ‘Trucker Tour’ that shows the whole team skating various spots together. I have watched this part more than others, and I really like it. The song has this lyric put on loop, ‘I love you so….why I love you I’ll never know.’ To me this part really gives off a positive vibe, and shows the camaraderie of the team. Also I think it subtly shows that brotherhood of skating, that there is a connection and instantaneous bond for people that ride.
As far as super famous riders, I think Joey Brezinski’s and Lucas Puig’s part were anticipated. To me Joey Brezinski really has made an impact on skating because of his manual combinations. I’d further state that he carried on the torch from Daewon Song as far as tech skating goes. Creativity in skating drives the sport, and I think Joey Brezinski for tech skating is an originator. Some of the tricks are a blur, but I comprehended one of them, he did a backside heelflip to switch manual to switch frontside bigspin out which has more than one step to it. A few years ago in a game of skate, a teen did like a nollie 360 heelflip and his body rotated with the board. I said there was no way I could do that and the teen said, ‘try it it’s a flow trick.’ Maybe the real tech dudes do flow with the combo tricks. I guess with you backside heel into a switch manny, why wouldn’t you simply rotate the rest of the frontside out while flicking a bigspin. Anyway, with the tech skating, there seems to be so many variations, flow tricks or not, that there will always be new things coming out of the pro level.
Lucas Puig does not disappoint, and he fully embraces his Addidas sponsorship, so much so that he dresses more like a track star or a tennis star rather than a skateboarding star. In the 2007 Lakai video Lucas Puig has a great part. His skating in Cliché’s video seem as good, but perhaps more flow and consistency to it. Throughout this video, they are easy on the slow motion. In Lucas Puig’s part the end trick, a flip in flip out ledge trick, is in slow motion and maybe one other trick. In the Lakai video they were super heavy on the slow motion.
Kevin Bradley seems to be the future of Cliché. I did not google search him, but he looks no older than 16. His song of choice is a ridiculous rap song, and it’s good that they have humor. From some of personality shots, it looks like he’s a teen that likes hiphop. So to me it shows originality on the team to have a funny hiphop song since hiphop does not really fit with the rest of the soundtrack. Lucas Puig’s part does have a French rap song, but I don’t really think that counts as hiphop. Paul Hart, JB Gillet, Flo Mirtian, and all the rest of the skaters skate excellent in this. In the 9 minute credits, they show a lot of their flow riders skating, it simply puts their names and the flag of where they are from. So Cliche really does have a focus on being international.
One last word on how this is easy on the slow motion, I think it makes a difference. A viewer has more of a true view to judge how they actually skate in real life. But in ‘Pretty Sweet’ the slow motion tricks stand out and one remembers them well. I think the level in this Cliché video is as tech as parts of the Girl video but the lack of use or heavy use of slow motion affects the viewer’s perception.
Most importantly, this video is fun to watch. If you have Itunes it’s only ten bucks for the HD, and in my opinion well worth it for any skate fan.
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