Coming ten years after “Radio-Television,” $lave’s “Radio-Silence” is an obvious continuation of a theme, albeit with a much more refined palette. Joined by perennial riders Pat Burke, Anthony Schultz, and Danny Dicola, team newcomers (at least as of 2019), Noah Lora, Jake Hill, and AJ Zavala blaze a trail of destruction across the land, mixing tech tricks with insanely fast and gnarly gaps, rails, and bombs.
As before, “Radio-Silence” once again makes use of found footage and newsreel shorts, but by combining these elements with each other, the music, and the skating, their use comes across as much more artistic and thoughtful than it did in Radio-Television.” Even with its digitized VX1000 production, “Radio-Silence” is a much more coherent animal than its predecessor, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s any less brutal.
With standout parts by Noah Lora, AJ Zavala, Danny Dicola, and Pat Burke, “Radio-Silence” has a little bit of something for everybody, and a lot of something for fans of big, bold, and dangerous street skating.
James is a writer, skateboarder, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.