Perhaps, like me, you were completely riveted by the opening action sequence in Casino Royale where Bond chases a man through the streets, onto construction sites and into a building. The speed, agility, and moves of this unknown actor were incredible, reminiscent of Jackie Chan, only with more lateral movement. The man's name is Sebastien Foucan and he is not an actor, but more of an athlete, the co-founder of a discipline called Parkour (French for The Art of Movement).
Parkour is often miscategorized as an extreme sport, but to traceurs and traceuses, its practitioners, it is something closer to a martial art. The activity's aim is to move from one place to another as quickly and efficiently as possible. When Parkour becomes more artsy it is called free running, but for most people the two terms are interchangeable. One could say that if martial arts focus on the fight of "fight or flight", Parkour is the flight aspect. Escaping over, under, or through whatever obstacle may come into your path, Parkour is what allows Foucan to lead Daniel Craig on such a spectacular chase and leaves the audience nearly out of breath.
PK Takes Vegas is a documentary following seven traceurs through Las Vegas on location at exciting destinations around Vegas, such as; Hoover Dam and Red Rock Canyon. I sat down with the directors and producers of PK Takes Vegas last week to talk to them about this Utah production.
Director/Producer Eric Bennett of The Barefoot Group, couldn't contain his enthusiasm about the project. Almost immediately he told me they would "likely be doing a sequel." He said he could hardly call himself a director on this shoot because essentially he was more there to observe. Fortunately, some great hi-def footage and skillful editing lets us observe as well.
Producer Gilbert Howe of First Vision Entertainment bragged that one of the traceurs, Devon Bardole, a local, is "probably the best in the U.S." The other six athletes come from various cities around the country. Their skills are impressive and Vegas makes for quite the backdrop to their stunts.
The documentary is currently showing on Video on Demand on a number of international airlines. It will soon be airing on both broadcast and cable networks. For many viewers, the highlight of the show will be seeing former traceurs-turned-artists performing sequences in Cirque du Soliel's Ka production.
The traceurs practice their philosophy of connecting to one's environment in a number of eye-catching locales, including a local park and the campus of University of Northern Las Vegas. Learning to train with athlete's they'd only just met, makes for a highly interesting dynamic in the film. For such young, sport's-minded guys, the philosophizing on free running and their observations on everything involved in it are surprisingly deep and well-spoken.
So if you've watched every Jackie Chan dvd available on Netflix, or you loved the early scenes in Casino Royale, this documentary may be just your cup of tea (if you kids even know what that phrase means). For those interested in extreme sports, martial arts, or documentaries in general, this is certain to be of interest. Get your own copy
here. DVD copies contain nine extra minutes of footage along with special features containing some of the best footage of the entire shoot.
