ESPN Snowboarding

For many riders, the premiere of each season's new Absinthe offering has become the de facto start to their winter. Like the smell of molten wax drifting out from the back of the local shop or crouching down in wet leaves to see if your truck tires have any tread left, "Neverland's" first showing in Portland pretty much kicked summer to the curb.

Held at the landmark Hollywood theater (as in years past), "Neverland" is 100-percent Absinthe with international flair, pristine locations, dynamic cinematography, solid editing, and lots of powder. Lots. Several featured pros including Marc Frank Montoya, Dan Brisse and Annie Boulanger, were in attendance to dole out goodies and tag tetons. Oregon's OG sideways people like Snowboard Mag's Aaron Draplin, Dakine's Randy Torcom, Nike Snow's Bobby Meeks, Bonfire's Amy Eichner and Rian Rhoe, and Nemo's Trevor Graves showed up in full effect, as did David Benedek and a number of more domestic pros who weren't even in the movie! (The ultimate endorsement.)

We don't know what it is about the music Absinthe chooses (The Who, Jane's Addiction, Dead Kennedys—plus cool cuts you've never heard before), but it always flows seamlessly from part to part and has the ability, like a good DJ, to make you enjoy bands you might have hated before seeing their sounds matched with such stellar snowboarding. Teenage wasteland, indeed.

Absinthe fans who can never get enough of Nicolas Müller will be well-served by "Neverland" as he has a deeeep opening Japan part with Kevin Pearce, a Swatch commercial with Terje, and basically another solo part during the closing credits. Filmmaker Justin Hostynek told us that, yes, they indeed had "so much" good footage of Nicolas they could use only a fraction of it. Hell, we'd watch a whole movie of the guy tweaking those sevens and geeking out on trees. (Seeing Pearce is a treat as well. Those pipe skills translate into Japanese powder very nicely.)

Wolle Nyvelt showcases some of his most aggressive "PowSurfer" lines and airs to date here, redefining what is possible without those pesky bindings we've all become so attached to. We're talking smooth three's, legit cliffs, big ollies and turns he trenches like Andy Irons.

Gigi Rüf, another rider who has grown up within the Absinthe fold, reminds us all why he has had such staying power. With his skatey style and ability to turn almost anything into "a feature," Gigi proceeds to make some snowy euro chocolate box town (Bosco Gurin) look like Tommy Guererro's San Francisco in The Search for Animal Chin. You'll never look at a rooftop the same way again—but his echo-laden opening voiceover might give you a bit of a headache. Fair warning.

Travis Rice returns to the Absinthe bottle with "Neverland" (after some time off to make a little film called "That's It, That's All" ) and his return is as powerful and entertaining as we'd all hoped. (Mark Carter has a few good shots here, too.) The Rice double corks are there; the frightening use of trees is there; and, on some of his biggest jumps—and, let's face it, they're all big—you can really see how his ability to control his board at frightening speeds make him a backcountry magician. Even his pow butters are better than the competition's! This Rice part, and its accompanying "horseplay" alone, make "Neverland" worth the price of admission. We won't spoil it as long as you promise to see it. Pinky swear.

Last month we did an in-depth profile with Dan Brisse and yet we were surprised by the anticipation this crowd showed for his part. When his name popped up on the big screen you'd think homeboy was Peter Line or something. His part is hard-hitting, kind of scary, and so full of bangers, both urban and backcountry, that it is bound to be rewound over and over. He might look like some fresh-faced boy scout in person but Brisse's merit badge is in F**king With Our Heads, clearly.

These highlights barely scratch the surface of what this flick has to offer the discerning snowboarder. "Neverland" doesn't really let up. It's 42 minutes of untracked powder, flowing lines, and, thankfully, it goes pretty easy on the "trick porn." We missed seeing Jeremy Jones after his mind-blowing part in last year's "Ready," but there isn't a dud anywhere by what we could tell on a single, public viewing.

Other standouts:

•Annie Boulanger has her fastest part to date with solid backcountry step-downs, decent cliff action and AK-style run-outs that demonstrate just how much power she's packing these days.
•Eero Ettala's creative lip tricks and technical use of 100-percent natural features. Style in spades.
•Cale Zima's heinous bails, greasy handrails and...dancing.

•MFM. While it's similar to pretty much all of his video parts pretty much ever, that's what makes him great and always fun to watch. Everybody kind of rides like MFM nowadays but nobody really rides like him. Fast. Smooth. Relaxed. Inimitable riding from a one of a kind dude.
•The Yes Snowboards crew is well-repped here: Romain deMarchi reminds everyone that he is still nuts when he straps in, sending huge blind corks over rocks and beyond. DCP just deals out the smooth-i-tude as he's been dealing for a decade. JP Solberg redefines "underrated" with a stomped gap that looks like it's about 30 feet past doable. Solberg might have the best backcountry air in the entire movie. No joke. Going by what we saw here, those new Yes boards are legit.
•We had figured on Rice or Brisse for coveted closing part but Bode Merrill comes out of nowhere and lays down a huge, diverse closer that plants his flag hard and deep. From the city to the deepest regions of the snowy outback, this cat clearly slaughters any feature he feels like. And, according to our sources, he just goes out there, has all sorts of fun, and "doesn't really seem to even be trying" as he locks down this bookend on one of the year's best movies. Nothin' but net.

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