JUMP!

Directed By Helen Hood Scheer

I love documentary film.  AFI Dallas, had one of the best doc programs I have seen all year.  And I was very excited when I saw that Jump! was playing there.  It played LA Film Fest last June and generated a tremendous amount of buzz.  But for, one reason or another, I kept missing the screening times.  The hubbub around it seemed fantastic and I couldn’t see it ARRGH!!!  Wait.  It’s a film about jumping rope?  What?

Well, let me tell you, it is not a film about ‘just’ jumping rope.  Jump is a film about dreams, artistry, and the human condition.  It is a film that by the end had me in tears.  I spoke to the director the next day and told her that I kept laughing about crying during a jump rope movie.  I just could not believe how amazing this film was.  How enraptured I became because of this competition, and then the agony, the defeat, the victories!  I was jubilant.  Then I became offended that this was not an Olympic Sport……WAIT!  I think I am getting ahead of myself.

Helen Hood Scheer saw the National Jump Rope Competition on ESPN one night and became fascinated by what she saw.  After some research, she followed the teams and people that she found to be the best.  She followed them for the year and got their highs and lows and their competitions.

What she captured on film was magic. It is an honest look at the athletes involved in a sport you probably did not know existed.  It proves that they are as much athletes as gymnasts and as artistic as dancers.  It shines a light on a sport that you cannot believe.  It  makes you smile.  And more important it makes you want to JUMP!

Shane Morton