Midnight Marauders.

So this is a sort of review/comment/rant about that French indie video Minuit. I really like it. I also think it's wank but then so should everyone else that likes it. I'll tell you why.

It's really nicely put together. The editing is snappy and the filming is pretty much all in that super-close-up fisheye style that makes everyone look like Bobby Puleo. You know how I mean - the camera never just stays in one place letting the skater fly past. Instead it follows them from ground level up onto the ledge/bank/whatever and then down to the ground again at the end stopping as the skater rides away. This gives a different kind of feeling of speed and distance and almost always makes the exit look speedy and stylish. Point is, it can make almost ANYTHING look dope. And this video is chock full of "anythings". Dudes basically getting away with murder 'cos they've figured out how to make it look good on camera.

The video is almost all street. Real street. As in bombing down the road popping up and down curbs and not necessarily doing any "bangers". You know - Static, Traffic, fuck, even that last Landscape video (oops!) kind of style. And I like that, I always have. But fuck me running! There's some cheeky shit in this one.

One dude appears to FS 180 over a small gap in the pavement and then switch FS 180s off the curb. And that's a clip. He gets his name on the screen and everything. Another dude effectively rides down some very long, flat steps and ollies off the curb at the bottom. And so on.

Now, I'm straying into a mentality I've never really cared for - the skate-jock mentality. That is to suggest that there's no place for mellow, non-competitive skateboarding in videos and that I'd rather not see top pros fucking around when they should be one-upping each other on the stair counts and flips in and out. Basically an attitude I'm not keen on but one it's easy to assume when watching this vid. I know these dudes are not top pros but some of the tricks they've got in their parts are so easy that it virtually begs for you to sit there shouting "weak!" at the TV.

"The Emperor's New Clothes" is an accusation that has been levelled at plenty of modern videos/skaters/companies but it fits here for me more than ever. But like I said - I like the video. And it has all kind's of shit wrong with it - the arty bits between the skating are far too long and the music is soulless instrumental monotony yet I'd still rather watch this than a new P-Rod or Torey Pudwill part where the technical limits might be being pushed.

Style goes a long way and it's the style that this video is filmed in that makes it work. The filmer really can make any old shit look good. I might see if he can get me in the next one! Oh and it's all filmed at night, cool concept but I think I can see why - the dude's death lens is FUCKED! It has so many scratches around the edge it might have been used as hockey puck. You can't see them so badly in the dark, hence the concept for this video I reckon. Check the last clip where the Jap guy finishes his part in the light - the lens is S C R E W E D.

Anyway, it's a great video that will have plenty of people very happy to see some real skateboarding but probably questioning the legality of some of the tricks. The camera really can lie and it's pants are seriously on fire for much of the vid yet it still contains enough good skateboarding to work. I like it a lot and it has a couple of my good friends in but a part of me feels guilty when I'm watching the easier tricks - but hey, you wait 'til the Tuesday Crue: Bristol Chapter video comes out! Boy will that have some weak moves in it! Maybe 2011 is the year the pressure comes off and we can all get our 15 minutes of video fame. Fuck handrails and stairs - ollie off some curbs.