DVD reviews
Immortals
"... a thundering example of style over substance."
Midnight In Paris
“...a delightful tribute to nostalgia and romance.”
The Illusionist
“...a film that generally brings warm smiles rather than belly laughs...”
Treasure Guards
"A willing suspension of disbelief should get most viewers across the line."
search the site
newsletter
Enter your email address below to receive the weekly Filmink newsletter
180° South (DVD)
Year: 2010
Rating: M
Director: Chris Malloy
Cast: Yvon Chouinard, Jeff Johnson, Doug Tompkins
Release Date: February 02, 2011
Distributor: Madman
The Film: 3.5
FILMINK rates DVDs and Blu-rays out of 5“The physical beauty of this film is so stunning that it’s easy to forgive the sanctimonious tripe that is Johnson’s narration.”
An affront to cynics of adventure wear companies, this documentary recounts the 1968 journey of Yvon Chouinard (founder of the Patagonia clothing line) and Doug Tompkins (founder of The North Face) from California to Patagonia at the southern tip of Argentina and Chile. Filming their trip on 8mm, travelling by van and making frequent stops to surf, climb and ski, the two were entranced by the region, a place of volcanic mountains, glacial lakes and otherworldly beauty.
Some 40 years later, vagabond adventurer and star of this film Jeff Johnson - given the ultimate compliment of "total dirtbag" by Chouinard - sets off to recreate the trip. In between climbing and surfing and shipwrecking off Easter Island, Johnson lays on thick his love for the pair, setting up their inevitable reunion at Tomkins' world's largest private conservation park in Patagonia, and their even more inevitable attempt at the legendary, dangerous Mount Fitzroy.
The physical beauty of this film is so stunning that it's easy to forgive the sanctimonious tripe that is Johnson's narration. While he may be a total knob (as well as a total dirtbag), he's unabashedly honest and no hypocrite: He lives what he loves, just like his heroes.
