A good question to ask when watching a locally made movie is, would anybody outside of Youngstown want to watch this?
Is the plot or narrative of interest to people? is the cast, and the production quality, of the highest quality?
“The YO,” the latest offering from a Mahoning Valley filmmaker, checks all of those boxes and does it with so much heart.
The extreme-sports documentary by Danny Mizicko of Vienna premiered Sunday at Stambaugh Auditorium. Danny and his brother, Ken, are the founders of Stuck In Ohio – their own brand of videos that show homegrown athletes doing stunts with skateboards, bikes, dirt bikes and snowboards.
Approximately 2,000 fired-up fans turned out to see it.
Danny, who is a filmmaker and videographer, also tells the brothers’ own life story in it.
The Stuck In Ohio fanbase might seem like a cult of adrenaline junkies – and it is. A surprisingly big cult.
The film they saw is by turns exciting and engrossing from start to finish.
It shows how the Mizicko brothers got started, and developed the Stuck In Ohio army. It’s revelatory, too, because the brothers had kept their story quiet until now.
Yes, the film is about Youngstown and Youngstowners. It’s a tribute to the city, and it spotlights the daredevils who use its streets, stairs and public places as a canvas for their “art.”
But fans of the genre anywhere in the world will absolutely love it.
It is a fun and visual salute to those who love extreme sports, regardless of where they live.
Danny Mizicko long ago proved his videography skills are top shelf. He’s a professional who has worked with many national brands.
With “The YO,” he also proves that his filmmaking skills are at the highest level.
His combination of filmmaking talent and extreme sports passion make him perfectly suited to make such a film.
The Mizicko brothers got into action sports while growing up on their family’s farm in Vienna Township. They were pulling off wild stunts when they were in grade school – like soaring off barn roofs while on skis.
As the brothers started taking classes at Youngstown State University, they noticed something that other students didn’t. The campus and the nearby downtown offered an array of manmade structures that would make for even wilder stunts than they could ever do on the farm.
The city became an urban playground to them.
They would envision skateboarding down an outdoor staircase, or using a BMX bike to glide down a 50-foot railing. Wean Park, the “Mr. Peanut” bridge, abandoned factories – all of these became a testing ground for their crew.
They might spot a staircase or an unusual concrete infrastructure and say, “let’s hit that this weekend.” And they would be there bright and early Saturday morning, with Danny capturing it with crisp video from every angle. That is, when he wasn’t taking part in the stunt.
“The YO” does more than just show the Stuck In Ohio gang in action.
It also builds to an astounding and hair-raising stunt by a renowned daredevil that brings the story to an amazing climax. It shows a base jump from an extremely tall site that Danny captured on film. Outside of the Stuck In Ohio crew, almost no one in the Mahoning Valley even knew that this feat occurred.
Make no mistake, “The YO’ is a film about Youngstown. It’s Danny’s love letter to the city, and at times, it gets personal.
But people in every part of the world who appreciate action sports will love it.
After the screening ended, Youngstown Mayor Derrick McDowell made a surprise visit. He joined the brothers on stage and gave them an official certificate of recognition, adding a much-deserved finale to the evening.
Danny will now submit “The YO” to film festivals, where it will hopefully garner a much wider audience.
He will also soon release another film, “Angel in Amish Country,” a feature-length documentary about Perry Reese Jr., the late and beloved basketball coach of a high school in Ohio’s Holmes County.
And he is also behind an effort to get an outdoor skate park constructed in Youngstown. Go to youngstownskatepark.com to learn more.
To read an earlier profile story about the Mizicko brothers and “The YO,” click here.
To learn more about what’s happening in the Valley this coming weekend, check out The List.
Pictured at top: The crowd at Stambaugh Auditorium watches a scene from “The YO,” in which one of the Mizicko brothers, on a snowboard, is pulled down the Market Street Bridge during a snow storm.