Main content

Rated: Peaks of Life

Semi-professional mountain biker Tom Wheeler has loved the sport since childhood. But a crash while racing downhill led to a serious injury that thwarted his hopes of competing at elite level. This film follows Tom's pioneering treatment and rehabilitation as he attempts to scale new heights.

By David Quinn, 麻豆官网首页入口 Fresh researcher

The uplifting message about overcoming adversity feels completely honest

The main reason I rate this film is because of the strength of the story.

Filmmakers Kris and Chris have really found a great subject. The uplifting message about overcoming adversity feels completely honest when you think about what Tom has gone through.

The way the film is organised works well 鈥 you can see from the outset that an accident has affected the film鈥檚 main character but it鈥檚 only as the film gets around halfway through that the full extent of it becomes clear.

This is a great way of holding the viewers鈥 attention without giving everything away at the start.

Technically, the film is also very good. The opening scene showing the accident has a great, ominous soundtrack and the use of graphics showing Tom鈥檚 date of birth 鈥 hinting at medical records 鈥 is suggestive about what鈥檚 to come.

There鈥檚 then a great cut at around 30 seconds that takes us back to seeing a young child on a bike, which is a great use of home video archive.

The mountain biking shots are well composed and the use of slow motion adds to the drama.

I like the length of the film 鈥 it鈥檚 a good example of how to edit a short.

You can easily imagine the potential for a longer film

At just under six minutes, it really holds the viewer鈥檚 attention without any narrative 鈥渇lab鈥.

It left me wanting to know even more about Tom鈥檚 story and you can easily imagine the potential for a longer film exploring Tom鈥檚 rehabilitation further.

Rated

This film is Rated by the 麻豆官网首页入口 Fresh team. Rated films are those the team or guest reviewers enjoyed, and feel are worth highlighting because of their production techniques. Reviews may contain spoilers.