Against The Grain (Josh Landon, 2007): USA

“Against The Grain” is a film about the struggle of female snowboarder, Tara Dakides coping with family issues, depression, and injuries on her road to fame. If there are any girls out there with false hopes and lost dreams, “Against the grain” will prove to you that if Tara can go through a life full of terrible problems and survive, anyone can. Tara Dakides is the most talented female snowboarder of our time. Josh Landons approach to this film was very smart and effective. Like any documentary, the most important thing to do is to grab the audience’s attention. If the audience is left in the dust at the beginning of the film, they will be performing quite a few “butt shifts” during the film. One might ask how to draw an audience into a film? The key is to connect with the audience on an emotional level.

Landon did this perfectly by showing the audience Tara’s life go from pleasant to a nightmare. As a young happy girl, Tara started gymnastics. Tara would eat, breathe, and sleep gymnastics. Tara’s drive for her passion got her numerous awards. Her mother said that Tara couldn’t even go sit on the couch without flipping onto it or over it. Tara never thought anything would change her attitude towards her dreams, except when her parents got divorced, Tara changed. Tara became more and more distant from her family. Tara started hanging out with a whole new group of people who were seen as a group of bad influences. While Tara’s mom tried to explain to her why the divorced happened, Tara would reject and ignore her. Time passed until things hit rock bottom for Tara. Tara felt so alone and empty, she wanted to end her life. She didn’t want to die; all she wanted to do was end her time in the place she was in her life. Telling this story was very effective by Landon because it established a relationship with Tara and the audience. After Tara got better, she moved to Mammoth Mountain to snowboard. This was the turning point of her life. Her ambitious spirit was back and ready to conquer the world of snowboarding. Follow Tara through a tough career of hard work and courage.

This is a great film for everyone. Any story about an individual who turns their life around for the better is very inspirational. One can learn a lot from listening to Tara’s story and as Tara said, “Life isn’t about the destination, it’s about the journey.”