Genre: Documentary, Fitness, Competitions, Kayak Freestyle
Running Time: 29.43
Cast: Polly Green, Claire O'Hara, Emily Jackson, Ruth Gordon- Ebens, Dennis Newton
Directed by: Polly Green
Music: Minnie Marks
Produced: Flair Films

Review by: Nick Harding | @nickhdg | Sportscene

Plot
After a 4-year retirement break from a 10-year freestyle kayak career, Polly Green (NZ) decides to return to elite competition in 2010 to become the next World Champion; she has 1 year to get back to form before the 2011 World Freestyle Championship.

Review
What I love about Game is its ability to make the audience feel we like we are part of a freestyle world outside our own.

The point-of-view interviews during training at Plattling, Germany mean the camera is the riders' friend – there's no secrecy here, everyone has a casual chat as if we had been friends for years.

Sometimes sub-cultures are quite protective of their own secrets, in this case it's quite refreshing to see the slow-mo footage and voice over explanation of how to do each trick, as well as how freestyle scoring and rules work – again a nice touch for those wanting to give the sport a go.

What resides through these informal interviews and the continuity following the stages at the Worlds, is that freestyle is a continually-evolving, exciting kayak discipline. All paddlers have been working for years, fine tuning this and that, making little mistakes here and there.

The sport is no longer about loops and spins; these moves have now become the foundations for freestyle tricks. We empathise with Polly, about how she has to up her game more than ever before just to get back into it. In four years everything has changed so much.

Underlying to the comp edits and rider-chats there's a real strong sense of 'focusing on your goals and hard-work can achieve anything'; an apt motto for life really. That is the heart of the film right there – I feel compelled to improve myself, pick up a paddle and learn a 'Phonics Monkey'

Lovely quote by GB Coach Dennis sums it all up really: 'At the end of the day, if you see something you tend to want it, if you've got the drive you'll get it!”

Verdict
Not just a light-hearted, down-to-earth, real account of Polly's mighty achievement to compete again, this is also a calm celebration of how all of the women's field has come on leaps and bounds since her retirement. Polly isn't the star, whitewater gymnastics is!

Commentary from the likes of Claire O'Hara and Emily Jackson is fun and charismatic as ever. For a 45-second high-speed action sport, it's actually a breathe of fresh air to see a humanist, slow-paced kayak-documentary.

It's not trying to be big budget or the most technological with the craziest camera angles, it's just humble and one of the most positive vids out there in a while.

Websites

• Polly Green's production company: www.flairfilms.com
• Interview with Polly Green
• Claire O'Hara's mention of Game on her Blog
• 2013 Freestyle World Championship: www.freestylekayaking2013.com