>>REVIEW
VICE GUIDE TO TRAVEL
Directed by
Vice Films, 2006
Always the case with anything hosting the Vice moniker, nothing is as it seems. Typically known/hated/admired for its monthly forays into drug culture, fashion dos and don’ts, weird music and weirder people, Vice has become synonymous with snotty entertainment.
Vice Guide to Travel fucks us up yet again. What appears to be an ineffectual travel guide presumed to feature lots of drug-laden journalists carousing around the world in various hotspots and making fun of the locals is actually an amazing cinematic experience.
Traipsing the world to accumulate interesting, twisted and shocking information, Vice Guide to Travel is divided into various segments representative of the city/country featured. With approximately eight chapters, we witness correspondents almost purchase a warhead on the black market with scary ease, visit Chernobyl to hunt mutated animals, face the desperate slums of Rio, search for the sole surviving dinosaur with a Pygmy tribe and schmooze their way into a Pakistani gun market. It’s all as dangerous as it is enticing and the Vice crew deserve credit for this grandiose and impressive affair.
Thankfully, the requisite Vice humour and ridiculous "too cool" vibe have been dropped in an effort to convey some very real messages and dispel the odd myth. Packed with outrageous footage, information that has actually been researched and, get this, a few great ideas, Vice Guide to Travel is as stunning as it is enjoyable. However, as the film wears on, there is a sense of diminished returns.
Naturally, some of the typical tongue-in-cheek humour the publication has become renowned for sneaks into Vice Guide to Travel by way of extra features that include comedian David Cross tomfooling about China with Vice staff, tidbits from the aforementioned chapters that are interesting yet not quite up to snuff and, well, just all-around weirdness.
Vice Guide to Travel might very well be the first foray this company has taken into the adult world. Let’s hope they can keep it up.
The official launch party for the Vice Guide to Travel will take place at Broken City on Saturday, November 4. Screening starts at 9 p.m. |
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