Viewed and Reviewed: Neverland

never

Absinthe Films

All reviews are bullshit. That’s been the theme of my night, but I am going to try my very hardest to include as little bullshit as possible in this review of Absinthe Film’s latest video, Neverland.

When I started watching this video, I was sort of afraid they might have blown their load on the first part. Nicholas Mueller riding bottomless pow through the trees might not seem like it could fill a full part, but it did. And it was a part (allow me to date myself here) that rivaled the Mt. Baker section of the classic Volcom video the Garden. It just looked so fun. Add in a little Baba O’Reilly, and any aging snowboarder can agree, it was the sort of part that just made you want to go ride.

Don’t worry kids, the tricks start in soon (and there were plenty in Nicholas’s part too,) but the backcountry booters and super techy trickery are not in short supply. The thing that really set the Absinthe film apart from your average homey flick though is how good the snowboarding is. It’s not just off kickers. There are rails in this video. Plenty of them. But even the guys with heavy jib sections hit jumps as if they get paid to do this.

Neverland didn’t suffer from your typical snowboard video downfalls. It had a wide variety of riders, and very few repeated locations. From Snowbound villages that looked like they belonged on a chocolate box to really, ridiculously long, tech rails, it wasn’t boring. And just when you thought Gigi had a perfect closing section, Wolle Nyvelt’s part starts and he Noboards so well that it takes a few tricks to realize when he’s switched to bindings. The video ends with Bode Merrill absolutely destroying everything you could image with a part that about halfway through made you ask yourself, wait, is this the same guy?

Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t perfect. The graphics left a little to be desired, and there was one Dead Kennedy’s song repurposed from the 90s (that’s retro now, right?) but the imperfections were part of the film’s charm. While there were a few shots with incredible cinematography, Neverland still had a little bit of a raw feel that made it seem real and attainable.

I know, I know. This review sounds like bullshit, but I mean every word of it. I think it was best summed up by my significant, who said “It made me want to ride, and I don’t even like snowboarding.”

I got the chance to check out the movie on the big screen in Portland as Part of the Sphere of Influence tour. You should go when it comes to your town but if you can’t here are some pictures from Portland so you can feel like you were there.

IMG_4825.jpg

Picture 1 of 19



  1. matt

    i couldn’t agree more there were alot of laughs (travis rice on a white stallion) and ridiculous riding to go around. not to forget mary france-roy killing it for te ladies, the film didn’t’ disappoint me in the least.

  2. Rian

    I was there. I concur.

  3. Mimi

    Can’t wait to see this. Thanks for leaving out the bullshit. I enjoyed this

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *