Southern California… So Cal, or Soul Cal?

From Paul Dusatko, who brought us skate-film-esque films like Inertia, and thoughtful profile pieces like A Day in the Life: 5 Women Who Climb, comes Soul Cal. Like those, he’s been kind enough to upload it to YouTube for your viewing pleasure. The film is a love story to the bouldering in southern California, highlighting oft-seen haunts like Stoney Point and Bishop, but also lesser seen locales like Pirate’s Cove, Santa Barbera, and San Diego.

Let me get the most obvious non-climbing feature of the film out of the way first.  I hope you like the tunes of DJ Revolution.  With the inclusion of the soundtrack with DVD releases, its hard to tell if this is a climbing movie or an album-length music video at times. On one side, this is great – there’s no generic exposition, there’s no stilted dialogue, there’s not any needless narration.  In fact, the only words I can recall spoken are the “whoop-whoops” during a pair of Chris Lindner FA’s and shouted encouragement at Buck Branson way off the deck.  On the other, if it’s not your jam, it’s going to grate on you by the end of the 50 minute run time.  In that case, just push mute and put on your favorite tunes – you’re not going to miss anything said.

On to the climbing – there is a lot of climbing in just under an hour’s run time – 50+ boulders worth. Going back to that time in my mind, I remember Chris Lindner being a fairly prominent personality in climbing media, but he’s not made to stand out at all as above the rest – less a V-double-digit first ascent, Chris is shown mostly on moderate climbs, jaunting up boulders as “pedestrian” as V4. A young Garrett Greggor gets a ton of screen time, but in my opinion Natasha Barnes steals the show. Many times, women included in climbing films in that era were shown on comparatively easy boulders.  Not “Tash”- she gets the first V10 send in the film, the first X-rated highball, and a fistful of sends easily as hard as her male counterparts.

On the technical side, outside the music, Dusatko seems to come into his own in the editing room.  There are meaningful close-ups of holds cut in meaningfully. There are rapid zooms and pans that might jar some but I thing are pretty cool.  Boring parts of climbs aren’t cut completely but they are shown in double-speed. The increased prowess is a shame too, because this was the last climbing flick of Paul’s that wasn’t an instructional film.

Verdict: DJ REVOLUTION. Kidding, “Borrow It” – It’s not a perfect film, but its got parts that are worth seeing – I could watch Chris Lindner fly Superman-style backwards across pads on his perfect face all day long, but I’ll settle for the 5 minute highlight reel shown here.

The Who:
Chris Lindner
Natasha Barnes
Buck Branson
Garrett Greggor
Paul Dusatko
Jonathan Wright
Chaz
Joe Moran

The What:

Stoney Point
Johnson’s Arete
Vaino’s Arete
Hot Tuna
Yabo Mantle Eliminate

Santa Barbera
Yeti
Dancing Outlaw
All Mods Con
Smooth Criminal
Grotesque Old Woman
The Lizards Mouth
Call Me
Serious as a Deacon
Hi Hat

Bishop
Lowrider
Toxic Avenger
Mr. Happy
Soul Slinger
Evilution (to the lip)
Checkerboard
Jedi Mind Tricks
Finders Fee
Ta Kill Ya Corner
Get Carter
Seven Spanish Angels

Rock Creek
Choice of Weapon
Osama
Fluke
Blood Brothers

Secret Spot
Goat Roper Wet
StoneMaster Warmup
Hustle Patterns

Black Mountain
Boulder Basin Dyno
Big Greenie
Bull Durham
Rapture of the Sheep
Face Meat
Piss Mop – FA
Belly Flop – FA

Tramway
Posse
Methane
Porcelain Salamander
Angus
Solitude Arete

San Diego
Slipping Ass White Boy – FA
7 Pistols Right
The Great Escape
Bullit Crimps
Roadside
Serendipity

Pirates Cove
Not Even
Anabel