“Skating to New York” is an entertaining yet simple coming-of-age film
Image courtesy of © 2013 Skating to New York Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Skating to New York
YEAR OF FILM: 2013
DURATION: 93 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, Chinese and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and 5.1. Subtitles: English SDH
COMPANY: Well Go USA Entertainment
Rated: PG-13 (For Language Including Some Crude Sexual References)
RELEASE DATE: February 15, 2015
Based on the book by Edmond Stevens
Directed by Charles Minsky
Screenplay by Monte Merrick
Executive Producer: David Hamilton, Sandy Kroopf, Avi Reik
Produced by Wendy Japhet
Co-Producer: Michael Porter
Line Producer: Jessica Daniel
Music by David Grusin
Cinematography by Francois Dagenais
Edited by Ken Blackwell
Casting by John Buchan, Jason Knight
Production Design by Peter Cosco
Art Direction by Pierre Bonhomme
Set Decoration by David Gruer
Costume Design by Alex Kavanaugh
Starring:
Connor Jessup as Casey Demas
Wesley Morgan as Rudy Bouchard
Gage Munroe as Art Bouchard
Matthew Knight as Jimmy Mundell
Dylan Everett as Boney Labue
Michelle Nolden as Jessie Demas
Jason Gedrick as Doug Demas
Niamh Wilson as Page
Brandon McGibbon as Iceman
Craig Eldridge as Mario Bouchard
Duane Murray as Coach Andre Simard
SKATING TO NEW YORK is a contemporary coming-of-age adventure about five boys on a small-town Canadian high school hockey team, who live to skate. After losing a big game, they decide to do something never attempted before – skate across Lake Ontario to New York on the coldest day of the year. From the creators of 8 SECONDS, MR. BASEBALL and PAIN AND GAIN, SKATING TO NEW YORK is a story about home and friendship, about leadership and facing danger, and about growing up – but never giving up.
Charles Minsky is best known for his cinematography work on “Pretty Woman”, “Valentine’s Day”, “New Year’s Eve” and many other films.
In 2013, Minsky has taken the role of director for the 2013 film “Skating to New York”, a film adaptation of Edmond Stevens novella.
An independent film shot in Canada, the coming-of-age film is based on five boys who play hockey for their high school team.
The film revolves around Casey Demas (portrayed by Connor Jessup), a teenager who has been distracted as the goalie due to the separation of his parents.
Having enough of the drama going on at home and losing an important game, Casey and his four friends: Rudy Bouchard (portrayed by Wesley Morgan), Art Bouchard (portrayed by Gage Munroe), Jimmy Mundell (portrayed by Matthew Knight) and Boney Labue (portrayed by Dylan Everett) decide to skate across Lake Ontario to New York (22 miles) on the coldest day of the year.
But as the five friends try to escape their problems at home, their trip of traveling across Lake Ontario leads them to danger due to the harsh weather conditions but also bonding amongst friends and facing their own fears.
VIDEO:
“Skating to New York” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:85:1 aspect ratio). While the film shows detail during closeups, the majority of the film is shot in the icy outdoors. Outdoors, the film uses natural light and because it’s overcast, you’re not going to get vibrant colors, but you do get the actually feeling of the cold weather that these five boys must endure.
But the film looks very good in HD, I didn’t notice any banding issues or major compression. Skin tones look natural, indoor scenes look very good and for the most part, “Skating to New York” is a film that looks great on Blu-ray!
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
As for the lossless audio, “Skating in New York” is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack. The film is primarily dialogue driven and while there are scenes with crowds (during the hockey game) and music, this is not a film that is immersive, but the lossless soundtrack for this film is good.
Subtitles are in English SDH.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Skating to New York” comes with the theatrical trailer.
“Skating to New York” is an entertaining coming-of-age indie film about five teenage boys crossing Lake Ontario to New York.
I suppose there were two sides of me that enjoyed but yet was very critical of the film. The supportive side enjoyed the journey as these five boys faced their fears but also had a chance to bond as they traveled 22 miles skating to New York.
We have a protagonist who is trying to escape the drama of his parents fighting and separating from each other, you have two brothers who are abused by their father and if anything, they all love hockey, but as a team, they haven’t been playing all that well. So, they go on the journey to skate 22 miles through Lake Ontario to New York, not very prepared and also unaware of the dangers that lie ahead.
Suffice to say, these boys face amazing dangers but the film is predictable that there is no tragedy. If anything, the film almost plays off like a film you would watch on the Disney Channel but features quite a bit of profanity.
As for the critical side of me, this is my father side speaking out of how dumb it is for these five boys to risk their lives in such a manner, with no true form of preparation, nor were they able to prepare themselves for major emergencies and in essence, they end up getting lucky that they weren’t killed.
I can only hope no child who watches this film, are not inspired in making the decision to do what these kids are doing by traveling Lake Ontario during frigid conditions, for the sake of overcoming their own personal challenges.
As for the Blu-ray release, it’s a barebones release with only a theatrical trailer included. Picture quality is very good as you can see how cold the weather conditions are, as the film is primarily shot outdoors. Lossless audio is primarily dialogue, so it’s a center and front-channel driven soundtrack.
Overall, “Skating to New York” is an entertaining yet simple coming-of-age film. The only thing that prevents it from being too pedestrian is the few instances of mature language and sexual references. But for filmmaker Charles Minsky, having worked as a cinematographer for so long, it was good to see his feature film debut as a director.
