Double Dare

I saw this film when it appeared in Chicago and found it entertaining, amusing, and totally real. These are real women, and the courage and talent of these women who perform potentially dangerous stunts is awe inspiring. This movie truly captures the athleticism and skill required to work as a stunt woman. Jean Epper and Zoe Bell are excellent subjects as one is enthusiastically entering the tough world of Hollywood stunt women as the other, a veteran, teaches her the "tricks of the trade". The audience was also taken by the story and its highly entertaining subject. I will never view an action flick again without thinking of these tremendously talented women who fearlessly make an action film what it is. Wonderwomanly wonderful.

This movie completely blew me away--and I'm not easily impressed. It is so much fun and so joyful and inspiring, especially to women. I'd highly recommend it to anyone. I saw it at the Independent Fim Festival of Boston in 2004 and it was such a thrill to see it with a sold-out crowd and have the crowd be so deeply into it the whole way through. It's impossible not to fall in love with Zoe Bell, the younger of the two stunt women featured--but on seeing it for a second time I was even more impressed with Jeannie Epper, the 64-year- old grandma who is still doing stunts and whose kids and grandkids are carrying on the tradition. Also for Tarantino and Xena fans the scenes involving the Xena shoots and the Kill Bill auditions are delightful. And I was moved by the joy and passion these two women--and Amanda, the director--bring to their work. Rock on!

In case you didn't already know, Double Dare is a documentary about two Hollywood stuntwomen--the Xena and Wonderwoman who really encounter danger (within five minutes of the film, one of them is lit on fire... on purpose.) I don't know what it was about this doc, but it really hit home with me. I got the feeling that the filmmaker really wanted to let these stuntwomen tell their story, and you could feel the trust between the subjects and the crew. These women not only aren't afraid to jump of five story buildings, but are fearless in their fight against the sexism that is evidently still rampant in the film industry. Without Hollywood romanitcization or cheesy glorification (or a big budget it seems), Double Dare brilliantly tells the stories of these captivating stunt women.

DOUBLE DARE chronicles the ultimately intersecting lives of two stunt women, a graceful, aging veteran and an ingénue-like up and comer. Somehow, in a reasonable chunk of time, the filmmaker tackles the unveiling of two distinct personalities and histories. She then recontextualizes them within the two distinct eras that produced them.

The older one faced challenges as a woman in a male dominated field that the younger one will probably never encounter. Yet neither the characters nor the filmmaker take the "Look at the injustice" route on this issue. The piece ends up being a solid character study with the gender politics circling cheerfully on the perimeter. The characters are aggressively likeable, and the filmmaker reveals a world that audiences rarely if ever get to see. Documentary is 90% editing, and lucky for us, because the editing is phenomenal. I can't wait to see what this filmmaker chooses to tackle next. Excellent work.

The storyline of the two stunt women in Double Dare was compelling and fun. It was well paced: up, down, sideways and all with outrageous stunts going on as a side dish. The main course here is seeing two people trying to break in, and stay in this brutal business.