Review: The Apple That Fell over the Lake

In the video “The Apple That Fell over the Lake”, we follow curious Mr. Sea as he decides to pack up and head over the Atlantic Ocean to England in order to make a fresh start at a new life, without the troubles of rollerblading. Upon arrival he soon finds that this is not as easy as he had hoped. He continually finds himself being pulled down into ‘rabbit holes’ which draw him back into the elusive trap of rollerblading.

The editing and structure of this video is not like your average rollerblading video. It has a narrative that is broken and sporadic, jumping from, place to place, time to time and thought to thought. This collage approach to the imagery expresses how Mr. Sea feels. It depicts a mind tormented by a dilemma which faces all rollerbladers. The dilemma of choosing to live a lifestyle that conflicts with mainstream society. A society that views rollerblading as unproductive, uncool, immature, vandalism. Added to that, a lifestyle that destroys your body and earns no money. All of which can seem irrelevant though, when compared to the feeling you get when you land a trick or even just roll around the street, which is well documented in this video.


The skating in this video is nothing less than top class. With the likes of highly controversial and influential, Oli short, admired by many as one of the best skaters in the world, Erik Bailey, and constant innovator who has perhaps been overlooked or underrated, Sean C. They’re skating is at times quite improvised, for example, Oli’s line starting with him rolling out his front door. This kind of skating leaves more things open to chance, when compared to landing a trick many times in order to get the one that is landed perfect or shot best. This approach to skating and shooting captures things that are lost when people shoot several takes. These things actually reveal a lot about the entire process of rollerblading and make for a far more interesting and insightful video. Things like the shot being slightly shaky, which makes the viewer more aware of the person behind the camera and the fact that he too is skating through the environment (something most videos try to avoid drawing attention to). Another great thing is that they capture a lot more actual rolling around, which is really what we do most of. The space between tricks in lines reveals the skaters’ flow. It shows the thought process of the skater as they do what they do; how they take in their surroundings and generate an equivalent action.

Personally, I am often more inspired by the spots people skate in videos than the tricks they do. The skating in this video, however, is inspiring to me because it is an attempt to skate exactly how the individual wants to skate and not an attempt to imitate anyone else. The fact is you truly can do anything on skates, so why not try?

The ‘Apple’ series is the most original approach to making a rollerblading video in many years. It questions society’s prescribed lifestyle as well as our own lifestyle, and it is a cutting insight into, not only Mr. Sea’s, but all of our lives. Add to that, amazing, creative and unique skating from three leaders of our sport in their own right and we have something really significant on our hands. In other words, it’s well worth your hard-earned pennies.

Review by Gav

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