game girl advance: I Want to See District 13B

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June 01, 2006

I Want to See District 13B

I know it's going to be silly, District 13B, because it is Luc Besson's work after all, but I do admit to fondness for Yamakasi, a simplistic but well-meaning and fun-loving film about, well, yamakasi, the French phenonenon that resembles the better-known parkour, or "free-running." A wikipedia entry attempts to distinguish between the two terms, but I've heard practioners use the terms interchangeably. Practiced in the banlieu since the 80s, both disciplines involve getting from one place to another with free movement. It's hard to explain, easier to show a video, a sort of brief instruction by one considered the father of parkour - David Belle - who, incidentally, co-stars in the movie that I want to see.

The New York Times review of the film guessed that parkour was some sort of martial art, but one of the things I love most about it is that it's at heart non-violent. It's creative, it makes playful use of urban spaces that are often inhumanely designed - and transforms them into a rich, completely open playground. So, the movie takes that and adds a twist, which I'm not crazy about, but it'll still be neat I hope to see the amazing physical feats of talented practitioners.

Posted by jane at June 01, 2006 05:47 PM | TrackBack

Comments

im suprised this movie is beign distributed in the states.

but honestly, even by besson's always lowering standarts, that movie looks horrible.

id much rather just watch freerunning videos.
ah, if only i was fit.

byt the by, you know that a big portion of assassin's creed gameplay is based on freerunning, right?

Posted by: fish

on June 1, 2006 09:44 PM

Seen "Les Fils du Vent"? For parkour action, I think it was better than "Yamakasi".

Posted by: ArC

on June 2, 2006 12:15 AM

Can someone explain to me the point of "parkour"? It just looks like running a different way to me. What's the big deal? "Most people will walk down the stairs, but I jump over the rail instead"? Oooooh, how edgy! You're such a rebel for WALKING IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION!

Posted by: Tetsuo

on June 2, 2006 07:54 AM

Tetsuo: When it's done right, it's really something. But I have to say that the first half of that video really doesn't do it justice (even if it's infinitely better than anything I could ever manage) - so much so that I didn't both watching the second half.

Posted by: Zild

on June 2, 2006 10:29 AM

The second half of that video is actually very interesting because it goes into David Belle's background, his philosophy, and his practice.

The point of parkour is kind of like - there is no point! It's just supposed to be fun. Play is not something you OUGHT to do. You could just as easily say, what's the point of soccer? What's the point of running through the rain? What's the point of skipping? It's fun, that's the point.

Posted by: jane

on June 2, 2006 12:35 PM

Youtube has a bunch of awesome parkour clips.

This one is (I think) a chase scene from that movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPIw3cv8Zls&search=parkour

And this one is simply awesome. If this becomes a big sport, this guy is it's Tony Hawk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBP_ny7ZvDU&search=freerunning

As an aside, it's interesting they call it a 'sport of french origin'. Not sure how long it's been going on, but if it's recent then Jackie Chan was certainly an influence. There are several chase scenes in his movies that are along these lines. Also of course borrows from rock climbing and gymnastics, but that's just influence, I guess.

Seems no different than urban skateboarding, only cheaper :-)

Posted by: kpallist

on June 4, 2006 09:50 AM

I saw this at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, and I was really surprised to see it get into wide release (especially compared to some of the awesome stuff that was shown...*ahem*Duelist*ahem*)

In my opinion, stick to the parkour vids on YouTube and the torrent sites. This is just a bunch of staged parkour strung together with the thinnest of plotlines.

Posted by: flashy_mcflash

on June 4, 2006 06:51 PM