RJ Ripper
2018 · 19m · Nepal
Directed by Joey Schusler, Ben Page, Aidan Haley
Genres: biography, documentary, sports
Tones: contemplative, tender
A Kathmandu rider who built his bike from scraps becomes Nepal's four-time national mountain-bike champion.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Sports doc about an underdog champion—sounds like every Netflix formula ever, except this one's shot in Kathmandu on what looks like pocket change, and it somehow avoids the triumphalist garbage that sinks 90% of these things.
A formally restrained portrait that respects the lineage of intimate sports cinema without leaning on score or montage shortcuts; the contemplative pacing suggests a filmmaker aware of what Jia Zhangke taught about letting landscape and silence do the narrative work.
The entire film hinges on the decision to keep the bike—that handmade, scrap-built object—visually present and foregrounded rather than treated as mere symbol, which transforms a rags-to-riches story into something genuinely about craft and resourcefulness rather than just willpower.