When it comes to the world of ‘urban exploration’ (UrbEx) and parkour videos, you won’t find many subjects more courageous or reckless than Rikke Brewer and best friend Aiden Knox. They somersault off roof tops, surf on trains and film themselves at the top of very high buildings.
Peter Day’s new feature documentary Off The Rails (sold by Journeyman Pictures and which world premieres in Thessaloniki) shows what happens when the buzz is wearing off. The thrill-seeking youngsters face mental health issues and a gnawing sense of grief over the death of their friend, Nye Newman. They get into scrapes with the authorities. There is always the danger, too, that one of their stunts might go wrong. They’ve had upheaval in their private lives. Aiden’s mother has died of cancer and his father doesn’t always want him in the house.
Day first encountered Rikke’s videos in 2016/2017. “I thought to myself, man, this is making my palms water just watching this on a small phone. Just imagine this on big screen.”
The director wanted to find out more about the characters behind the videos. By coincidence, he had been commissioned to make the 2018 BBC Three movie Parkour Changed our Lives. This featured Brewman, the Parkour group formed by Brewer and Newman.
Day was fascinated by Rikke and Aiden. They were “neets” (young People Not in Education, Employment or Training) and seemed to have few prospects. The UK educational system had spat them out and discarded them and yet he saw their potential and lust for life. Their videos were attracting millions of views. He likens the impact of their daredevil films to those made by the Lumière brothers in the early days of cinema when audiences would watch footage of a train coming toward them and would hide behind their seats. He wanted Off The Rails “to convey the adrenalin of what they’re doing.” It helped that he was eventually given access to 10 years of their archive.
At first, Rilke and Aidan were suspicious about Day. To them, the director represented the mainstream media. They already “controlled their own message” and didn’t think they needed another filmmaker to tell their story for them. It took patience for Day to win them over. The first step was to convince of his “sincerity of intent.” He spent time getting to know them, sometimes visiting them without even bringing a camera.
“They are natural storytellers but they tell their story in a way for Insta or Facebook or YouTube, slightly different from the way that I might,” Day observes.
Parents also feature in the documentary. For example, if one of the boys has to serve a prison sentence, his devoted mother will be waiting for him outside the prison gates on the day of his release. ”I always saw this film as intergenerational. A subtext or sub-theme is how do you manage your kids when your kids decide to do crazy stuff.”
Day describes Off The Rails as having “an adrenaline skin” but “a mental health heart.” He gives the documentary a loose, freewheeling structure. “I wanted the film to feel like a feature film in the sense that you are just watching and it has its own internal machinations,” the director says.
The teachers who dismissed Rikke and Aiden in the classroom because they wouldn’t pay attention would be startled by the meticulous way the friends planned and filmed their stunts. Day talks of their “instinctive” flair for storytelling and their hard work.
“What they are interested in, they want to be the best at,” the director says of them. They are also very particular about how their world is described. Parkour is now being considered as an Olympic sport and some practitioners bridle when it is described as ‘urban exploration.’
Both subjects were wary about how the film would turn out. “Aiden was really wobbly until I showed him the film. He was super worried because he gives a lot of himself. He was worried that we would m
ishandle him.” Now that they’ve seen it, though, the two subjects have given Day their blessing.
Off The Rails was made through Faction Films, Faction North and perfectmotion. Day produced alongside Grant Keir and Rob Alexander.
This is the latest in a number of films that Day has made about characters on the margins of society. “I have a belief in the limitless potential of people. Authority figures write people off, to their detriment. These guys, they’re just really creative…society wastes so much talent through not recognising it,” Day reflects on what most drew him to Aiden and Rikke. “I don’t know about you but sometimes I don’t do things because I am worried that I’m going to fail..these guys try stuff. You might fail – but give it a go!”
