The Umdloti Interview No. 8: rad BMX film-maker Jimmy “Radistico” Reynolds
In yet another of my weekly interviews with interesting Umdlotians, I asked the Big Five questions of film-maker Jimmy Reynolds who, probably due to the fact that he sent back his answers on his iPhone from the legendary Bush Tavern after several gin and tonics, only answered four. But this a completely democratic process. So I’m totally fine with that.
Let’s first have a look at the young legend-in-the-making…
Nice. Pic: www.tyronebradley.co.za
FH: Jimmy, your game seems to be all about making extreme films of extreme sports to thrill, in the main, internet users. How did you get into all that… film, extreme sports etc?
JR: Well Hatters, I learnt to ride a bike like any regular kid and just never stopped. When all my friends got into drugs and girls and all that stuff I just kept on riding bmx and ended up travelling all over for about five years. During that time my good friend and partner in crime www.tyronebradley.co.za and I started making bmx videos about all our adventures and that just took off and I got more into shooting than riding. And I guess that’s where I’m at right now.
FH: From what I’ve seen, your style of film-making is a touch on the rad side. Tell us about your camera technique, how you do it… and who your influences are…
JR: … “Hey, Ty, get me another G&T, dude!”… *?*
FH: Your dad was the top camera kahuna (director of photography) for Jamie Uys’s classic South African movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy”? What do you think of that? What impact did that – and your old man – have on you?
JR: I think I must have got some natural talent from him, but I was away so much when I started that it was more constructive criticism that I got from him than help with shooting. So he played a big part in my learning to shoot. I never studied it or anything like that. So I guess his amazing stuff that he shot has just inspired me to make stuff look as good as possible while shooting, which is quite hard while making the trick look as badass as possible. But I definitely want to make riding and other subject matters look as good as possible.
FH: Are you crazy? OK. I understand. So share with us your major malfunction…
JR: Crazy question, dude! I don’t think so. I consider myself the most normal person around and I’m not even slightly eccentric or anything. I just shoot, surf and hang out at the Bush Tavern. The only thing non mainstream about me is my love for old hair metal…
FH: You’re a cool dude-about-town in this epically kiff ocean-hugging town we call Umdloti. Reveal to us what you love about ‘Hloti, how you use it… and feel free to reveal any secrets about the “dark underbelly” of this crazy place of which I might, as a relative newcomer and somebody on the right side of 30, not be aware…
JR: This town fucking rocks!!! I’ve travelled to every corner of this country and have never found a place like it. I’ve always wanted to live in a place where when I have kids they can play in the street and this is it. Plus the Bush Tavern is epic! Pizza and beer specials rock. We have a warm ocean and pretty good waves here so it’s a treat to be able to look off my verandah and decide where to go surf whenever it’s good. I’ve only been living here since March but meeting all the locals has been a treat! G man, Piggy, Liz, Capo, Simmo, the Redmans and all the other 568 kids are so rad and we’ve had so many damn good times here. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to leave. Rad!
Total radness overload, Jimmy. Thanks for dropping in at the last minute to do this interview (because the bloke who works on projects in Waterloo township for Tongaat Hulett, despite committing to do so, wasn’t bothered to reply to my questions – or my voicemail messages to remind him to do so) and I thus owe you some serious gin-and-tonicness.
* Oh, do yourselves a favour and check out http://www.theriot.co.za/