First episode was okay. No dramatic or unexpected content, but some decent training group scenes. Hopefully future episodes provide more insight into his hopes and dreams and less cybertruck.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
Hi, I'm Roger Biebert, and I am here to review Josh Kerr's "Week in the Life of a World Champion". Let's get into it...
San Diego. Afternoon. The next shift arrives for work. On the first track, music of pounding urgency, suggesting the power of the intervals that stamp out VO2 max from fibers of human muscle.
The camera takes us into a Scottish bro's week, takes us close enough to almost smell the sweat and shield our eyes against the sparks thrown off by arrogance.
“Week in the Life” is about life on the pro runner assembly line, and about how it wears men down and chains them to a lifetime installment plan. It is an angry, radical movie about the vise that traps runners between big industry and big labor. It’s also an enormously entertaining video; it earns its comparison with “On the Waterfront.” And it’s an extraordinary directing debut for Josh Kerr, whose screenwriting credits include “I'm the Best."
Kerr tells the story of one runner, with buddies on and off the job, who are all more or less in the same boat. They run, they talk about running after work, they go home to think about running.
In a supporting role, Michael Johnson is a revelation: He’s been good in a lot of videos, but almost always as himself, fast-talking, stern, running comic variations on the themes suggested by his dialogue. This time, held in rein by Kerr, he provides a tight, convincing performance as a business man.
The video is relaxed and comfortable with itself, and we get the precise textures and tones of the society they live in. We understand their inner thoughts, too, because it defies one of the things the movie passionately charges: That unions and management tacitly collaborate on trying to set the rich against the poor, the black against the white, the old against the young, to divide and conquer.
It took a measure of courage to make “a Week in the Life,” and especially to follow its events through to their inevitable conclusion. The video could have copped out in its last four minutes, and given us a nice, safe ShoeTube ending. Instead, it makes criticisms of mass production that social critics like Harvey Swados and Paul Goodman might have agreed with. This isn’t a liberal video but a radical one, and one I suspect a lot of assembly-line runners might see with a shock of recognition.
It took courage to make the video that honest. But it also took a special filmmaking gift to make it burst with humor, humanity, and suspense as well. Like “On the Waterfront,” it’s both an indictment and an entertainment, working just as well on its human levels as with its theoretical concerns.
Josh Kerr has been a track and field wonder kid ever since winning NCAAs. After global titles he was able to demand that he direct his own work, and “A Week in the Life” is a stunning debut, taking chances and winning at them.
It's pretty tough for athlete-generated content to move the needle any more. On the running side, there are a few, genuine podcasts that don't just have canned answers (e.g. Coffee Club). There's good workout content from pros/colleges (Track: All Access) if you want to get inside baseball a bit. But it's going to be hard to do a good job with a behind-the-scenes video, and for me this isn't it. I'd find Elliott Giles' much better on that regard, as he seemed pretty open about the ups and downs while giving you a window into his races.
To be honest, I don't think many people care about Kerr's newest media shoot, Brooks Q&A Panel, fancy Grand Slam Track dinners in lavish mansions, expensive Cybertrucks, or new sponsorship deals (though it was cool to hear MJ's speech to the GST Racers). If Kerr wants to make good content, he'd follow Noah Lyles' lead and focus on actual training and racing content that give viewers elite running tips, and an inside look into the demands it takes to being a pro runner (as opposed to placing too much emphasis on the business side of the sport). We didn't see any "training" until the final 2 minutes of the video, which just showed drills and a local park they ran in. Rather than show a Brooks Q&A with trivial questions no viewer really cares about (i.e: Kerr meeting Princess Anne or seeing Sprint on the TV), why not do a Q&A directly to the fans!
Granted, there's no racing this time of year, so hopefully his content improves when training ramps up and when he starts racing.
All in all, this video was forgettable. This content is too self-serving and has almost no actual "running" content.
One thing I'll say, however, is that Kerr's vlog has well composed shots and a high production value. However, who really cares about that when the story of the video is not compelling.
I am grateful for every video by a professional athlete that offers an insight into their daily life. More tracks pros need to make videos like this on regular. People criticizing need to chill. Why don't you film your own videos and upload for us to laugh about your crappy life? It's always the people who drive a Prius that criticize the Cybertruck.