LAFF 2013: THE CRASH REEL

A scene from The Crash Reel.

Head games

By Don Simpson

Director Lucy Walker’s amazing documentary is studiously compiled from hundreds of hours of archival footage shot by snowboarder Kevin Pearce’s family and friends – luckily Pearce is from a generation that dutifully records anything and everything that they do and say. Walker also fully immersed herself into the Pearce family, recording incredibly intimate moments and conversations. Not only do they seem incredibly comfortable around Walker and her production crew, but they seem to be totally unaffected by the presence of the camera. This allows Walker to provide us with an unfiltered window into their hearts and souls; so, we are able to observe the Pearce family as they experience one of the most harrowing events that will probably ever happen to them. As they are put through the emotional wringer, we are too – especially those of us with little to no memory of Kevin Pearce’s recent past.

The Crash Reel is not just a documentary about a family that bonds together during a recovery process, but it also serves as a condemnation of extreme sports. Walker observes athletes who are addicted to high risk activities, who are willing to put their lives at stake in order to feel a rush of adrenaline. These athletes are revealed to be incredibly selfish, not thinking about the effect that their risky hobbies or careers may have on their families and friends. The blame does not all rest upon the athletes though; society is also to blame. Sports continue to become bigger, faster and more dangerous because the audience demands it.


The Crash Reel screens at the Los Angeles Film Festival: June 16, 4:30 p.m., Regal Cinemas; June 17, 7:10 p.m., Regal Cinemas. For more information: The Crash Reel at LAFF 2013

TRIBECA 2012: BROKE

Andre Rison in Broke.

Showing the money

By John Esther

A rather straightforward and somewhat repetitive work-in-progress documentary, Billy Corben’s Broke is a about spending more than you have – even when you have millions of dollars.

Unlike (other) hoarders of the one percent, when professional athletes come into huge sums of money they spend it as fast, or faster, than they earn it. An estimated 78 percent of NFL players are broke after three years of retirement and 60 percent of NBA players are broke after five years. Often rising from areas unaccustomed to great sums of wealth and thrown into a macho culture where money equals might, NFL players  like NFL quarterback Bernie Kosar, NBA small forward Jamal Mashburn and dozens of other professional athletes had no idea how to handle his (no examples of females were given other than parental financial abuse) sudden entry into wealth. Multiple houses, multiple cars, multiple baby mamas, and way too many kids, plus countless moochers, schemers, strip clubs, painkillers, and Janus-faced friends and family members sucked the mass cash out of the earner’s hands.

Consisting mostly of talking heads of the "victims" of overspending, the latest documentary by Corben (Cocaine Cowboys; Limelight) is more of a cautionary tale about letting materialism run amuck than a tale of tragic woe-begone for the big men and their money. The strength of Broke reminds us that if those great professional athletes making millions are vulnerable to poverty than who is not. Spend some, save some. It does not last.