Synopsis
David follows, over the course of five years, his brother Louis – a slalom skateboarding champion –through his evolution as an athlete. With an introspective approach, he tries to find common features in both their paths and stumbles upon the concept of grace. It thus forces Louis to ponder upon philosophical questions, while David finds himself trapped in the reflective process he started. The fraternal competition transforms into a process of understanding developed through different approaches: interviews with skateboard and slalom riders, discussions between brothers, and an aesthetic study of the sport.
A word from Tënk
What characterizes sibling relationships better than ambivalence? The culmination of interpersonal dramas, the paroxysm of relational complexities, brothers and sisters are subjected to the most extreme tests of love and loyalty. Love is inscribed in the memory of the body, in the children's bedrooms, in the immemorial effects that go back to before birth, in this shared biographical lineage. But the comparison is never quite far away, and the arbitrariness of the division of gifts and talents by the odds of birth and family rank makes the individual's fate forever linked to the shadow and light of his brothers and sisters.
David holds up a mirror to his brother in a process where conflicting feelings swarm. Rivalry, envy, tenderness, admiration, misunderstanding. David finds in the role of the witness, the magnifier, a posture that suits him, allowing him to be useful without being absent, to be alive without being at risk. However, there comes a moment when the costume no longer fits, when the seams crack and give way. David seeks to extricate himself from this skin that has become too small. He wants to exist alongside, with, and not behind. Because life goes on, the brothers grow up, and the coded language of childhood wears out under the usual formulas. Today as adults, It is necessary to reinvent their fraternal language, as they stand alongside one another, each their own person.
Naomie Décarie-Daigneault
Tënk Artistic Director
