Akira Imamura, ollie up to b/s wallride, Japan
The project – which has been carefully worked on for years – all revolves around the fascination resulting from the simple, but sadly oh-so-underrated act of skateboarding at night time. If you are a real, passionate skateboarder, then you won’t be without understanding what the myth is all about – it’s always nice and enjoyable to skate for whole afternoons, in the heat and the sunlight with all your buddies messing around, with or without a couple of drinks in reach and to just go ahead and let the good times roll (literally), as the heart of the city that surrounds you seems to be beating at a rhythm comparable to the sound of footsteps on a live stage, where every single pedestrian appears as an actor conforming to its very own role in the play of universal existence… But sessions just happen to have this different feel to them when they take place after dusk. After dusk, when shop-keepers have gone back home, when the subways are closed and the last bus of the day is long gone, when the average joe is done watching his favorite TV show or jacking off to imaginary girlfriends on youporn and struggling to find sleep wallowed in the mediocrity of ignorance. No more crowds, no more commuters, no more living sounds – just bare, deserted streets, waiting to be taken over, screaming your name.
Yoan has been working hard for a while to accurately recreate this feeling in an entire video, and it seems that he eventually succeeded. The project is 100% independent, even the instrumental soundtrack is homemade and was entirely created for the project by various artists. As a result, the final product stands out as a conceptual piece of art, a visual essay on a particular aspect of a passion shared by many people around the world, conveying feelings that break the language barrier any day and, in this particular occurence, any night. If what you expect from a skateboarding video is a typical mainstream approach mainly consisting of punk rock tracks, handcrafted superficial attitude gimmicks and a focus on performance, then this video isn’t exactly for you, but every skateboarder who knows how to have fun on wheels should be able to relate and understand the point of it. Speaking of which, it is notably worth mentioning that this video has been worked on in collaboration with the notorious Japanese collective TIGHTBOOTH Production[/url], the entity behind the revolutionary acts that were the videos ‘LENZ’ and ‘Dialogue Between Insiders’.
 rather than on sheer and non-refined difficulty, with a clean and thought-out approach, quick feet, and flawless execution. Masaki really tried to take advantage of everything the streets have to offer, and eventually wrapped up a solid section based on a mix of simple tricks on complicated spots (that backside five-o… gosh), and more fancy and unique manoeuvers such as alley-oop wallie grind to fakies, and handplant wallrides. A worthwhile watch that surely sets the mood for what is left to come, while leaving you unprepared to it at the same time – the first punch to the face that leaves you confused, as your opponent is getting ready to unleash the fury.</p>
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<p>The two following sections are basically friends sections, that blend into the overall editing really well to help make the video get started for good. Yoan has tons of friends (remember Leo Valls’ section in ‘Frame By Frame’ ?), and they all kick your ass on a board. It starts off with the Bordeaux locals, then you get to see a full section for the ‘American night walkers’ with night time-only footy of US skaters – mostly SF heads – including notably names such as Carlos Young and Evan Kinori. A good variety of individual styles all around, and an effective display of how the act of skateboarding somehow manages to be just as personal as it is universal.</p>
<p>[img]http://www.yoantaillandier.com/wp-content/uploads/gimgs/10_plache5okok.jpg)
Mathias Elichabhere, footplant nosegrind, Bordeaux, France
Then comes Seb Daurel’s section. You might remember him from the Adidas video ‘Diagonal’, in which he had a hilarious full part of original tricks, comedy skits involving knee-slides down stair sets, weird ass boards and a perfect airwalk as his ender – the cherry at the top of the cake. Often regarded as ‘the European Paulo Diaz’, Seb is the definition of a unique individual ; spontaneous, full of sympathy, open-minded, the dude has now been killing tranny for decades, spends his time at home shaping his own, unique weird decks or perfecting the bowl / miniramp combo constantly evolving in his garden, building the most awkward things to skate (including triangle-shaped boxes and flatbars on wheels) and playing more music instruments than your mind can even fanthom, in addition to being a happy husband and father. Throughout his career and life, skateboarding has given a lot to Seb and being the great man that he is, Seb gave back to skateboarding a lot, in terms of character, style, fun, and attitude. Now well in his thirties, he continues to remain an influential skateboarder everyone around the world should look up to.
Time certainly has gone by, but never managed to affect his skills on a board. Seb still carves, grinds, airs and slides as if his life depended on it, and makes it look so easy, when the kind of stuff he’s doing definitely isn’t. His section makes for a good representation of his routine – you’ll get to see a lot of good lines, old-school tricks taken to new terrains and turned into something new, fucked-up obstacles and two whole minutes of footage filmed at his homemade bowl, completely painted in black and white line for the occasion. The look and vibe of these clips are nothing but priceless, and are enough to justify the purchase of the video by themselves.
After Seb’s comes the turn of another long-time influencing french skateboarder’s name to show up on screen : Soy Panday has a full section, mixed with some Vivien Feil footy thrown in for good measure. Together they are the Magenta resistance, showing the world what they think skateboarding should be like, performing never-ending lines in random streets, hitting up everything in sight, and nosemanual-ing between pedestrians. Out of nowhere, their section blends into the next one, entirely devoted to the third element of the Magenta roster, and an emerging name all-around, Leo Valls himself.
Leo clearly has the longest part of the video, and the one with the catchiest song, specifically composed for him by the Japanese band One Peace Session Band. The mix of his skating and the soundtrack works exceptionally well, and undoubtedly contributes to making this section by far his best one to date. While staying truthful to his personal skating style we have all come to get to know and love, spontaneous street lines in random french and japanese streets with a unique, 90-styled trick selection involving master switch flips, Quim Cardona-reminiscing body varials and one-footed powerslides, Leo naturally throws in a lot of switch tricks to the mix. Switch back lips, switch back tails, switch backside nosegrinds, nollie back lips, switch flip manuals – you name it, he does it, in not less than four or five-trick lines in traffic or on the oddest spots you can think of. Highlights include a very… unique wallie on a street sign, and a flatground bluntslide while skitching behind a car going full speed as his ender. Rawness.
After another super 8 montage meant to clear your mind from the oppressive occidental mindset, only to introduce you to the Japanese lifestyle, it’s the turn of Akira Imamura and the Japanese force to come into play, and close the curtains. If you haven’t been living under a rock over the past years, or watching too many Transworld videos, then you know how good the Japanese are at skateboarding, and what to expect from them and their style. The streets are so crowded there in daytime, and the people in charge of the laws so strict, that the only time they really get to skate is after dusk – making them the absolute kings of night skating and, given the nature of their spots and futuristic architecture, creativity. Check out the TBPR site and blog, and try to get your hands on the numerous FESN (Far East Skate Network) videos, to get a better understanding of how tight there scene is, both literally and figuratively.
Japanese people are known for effectively getting things done proper and their part in Minuit makes for no exception. They just kill it. Weird-ass spots you only get to see in Japan, and the tricks are mind-blowing in terms of creativity, style, and technical execution. Take a peek at the pop out on this frontside lipslide and go ahead and tell me that it isn’t the best one you have ever seen in your life.
Shinpei Ueno, TBPR’s main filmer / editor and one of the greatest skateboarders from his country, gets the last clips in the part, therefore in the video. His last line actually takes place at dawn, being the first bright clip after 45 minutes of strictly night footy, representative of your spiritual awakening as a spectator as a new day rises up again.
Shinpei Ueno (TBPR Staff), nosemanual around the world, Japan
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GET YOUR COPY !At Yoan’s site : http://www.yoantaillandier.com/project/online-store-coming-soon/
‘MINUIT DVD OUT NOW!!!Send me an email at [email]info@yoantaillandier.com[/email] to order a video. Include your name and address. You can pay through Paypal or by sending me a check.
The video is 15 euros / 20 dollars.
shipping:
france: free
europe: 4 euros
international: 8 euros’
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review by MRCK
