We are here to discuss the ski film Variable. But before we land on that topic, we’ll digress for a few paragraphs. So, ski films. I suppose there’s a yin and yang to ski film season. The cycle goes round-n-round. Sometimes, breakout narrative arcs support breakout filmography. Sometimes, there are vanity projects searching for a narrative arc with some excellent videography. The narrative arc, without a doubt, is the key. Without it, we circle back, as one does with yin and yang, to vanity project. This brings us to the film Variable, which nails the narrative arc.
We skiers and riders know this term: Variable. Here’s what Merriam-Webster says of the word:
able or apt to vary : subject to variation or changes
variable winds
variable costs
b
: FICKLE, INCONSTANT
Backcountry ski tourists know variable as inconsistent conditions, often tipping toward the negative side of descriptors. As in, the snow can grab skis and tips and make an otherwise competent skier look helter-skelter. So, fickle applies here. Variable conditions are when, at the end of a run, you may fist bump your partner, but not in the way of stoke and smiles and effortlessly making Ss down a powder run. No. A fist bump after a truly variable run, and a gnarly one at that, with roots, rocks, and thin branches spring-loaded to thwap you in the face, is a battle-worn bump of a fist bump.
At Variable‘s conclusion, brothers Jamie and Doug Kennard toast one another with small bottles of semi-shaken champagne. The two brothers joke and verbally joust. They click bottles together. Theirs is a special bond, and I choked up as the credits rolled.
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