![\"Tas](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Vice_AllThisMayhem2-1024x682.jpeg\")
Like most reckless libertines with an abundance of success, Tas and Ben quickly buried themselves in a Scarface-sized mountain of cocaine, binging for weeks in an ego-fueled tornado of self-destructive chaos. When Tas was diagnosed with spondylolisthesis, a condition in which a vertebra in the spine slips out from atop the bone below it, his rehabilitative hiatus from skating only shifted his flurry of excess into full gear. Shortly thereafter, the bank accounts for the brands they had started, XYZ and Platinum, were bankrupt. Ben was then arrested, caught smuggling considerable cocaine back into Melbourne, and resultantly banned from ever returning to the U.S. to skate. Unable to ever compete again professionally, his dream suddenly turned into a nightmare of apathy and heroin addiction.<\/p>\n
The years go by, and Tas is subtly and unjustifiably blacklisted from the colossal money-making machine that the X Games has become, seemingly to secure certain other American skaters in their place at the top. Having spent innumerable hours toward landing the first 900 ever, Tas is dismayed to find not only that he is not allowed to compete, but that Tony Hawk is going to be attempting a trick that no one else has ever completed \u2014 the 900. Despite perseverance or skill, Tas, like his brother, finds himself barred from the livelihood he\u2019d spent his entire life preparing for. A crack bender, a murder and a suicide follow, demonstrating the nihilistic desperation that occurs when passions are stolen and aspirations are crushed.<\/p>\n
I found myself restless as the film first picked up, wondering what exactly was so pivotal about the home videos of some Australian skater kids. But like a punk rock version of William Blake\u2019s \u201cSongs of Innocence and Experience,\u201d I was glued to the screen with devastation as their knee-pad-clad ambitions decayed into insanity and despair. The film\u2019s descent into reality is effectively depicted in a way that any brooding, angst-fueled adult should appreciate.<\/p>\n
Tas\u2019s manic aggression depicts the in-your-face behavior that, after conquering everyone else in the pursuit of success, eventually turns on itself. His story tells the often-echoed warning that once you\u2019ve been at the top, everything else in life is only a disappointing fraction of the immense satisfaction you once had. But despite the countless tragedies, his rehabilitation from out of a shattered life is ultimately a message of redemption that overcomes the themes of meaninglessness bombarding the viewer in the latter half of the film.<\/p>\n
A documentary featuring kamikaze personalities living out the utmost success and disaster, \u201cAll This Mayhem\u201d tells a deeply affecting story told with harrowing intimacy. The films airs at North Park\u2019s nonprofit theater-lounge, Digital Gym, with show times running on Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. and February 2 \u2013 4 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $11 for general admission, $8.50 for students and seniors, and $7.50 for Digital Gym members.<\/p>\n