I like surfing films, in part because moving water is one of the most cinematic things in existence.
And surfing photography has advanced tremendously in the last decade, both in the way the camera can be placed and the lenses that can be used. It matters I suppose that surfers had gotten more exhibitionist.
But given all this raw stuff, you still have to weave something worth watching. Despite the mundane story, I really liked "Blue Crush." It had energy and charm, thanks mostly to the editor.
This mostly misses. And that's because it focuses not on the surfing but the surfers. These guys and gals just aren't very interesting, and their ordinariness takes away from the extraordinary potential of the motion adventure.
Once we're locked into hearing about these guys we are forced into having to like them and that's a bad strategy for a movie. Only in one episode do we really go with the appeal, when some Irish American boys go back to Ireland and teach surfing to kids of mixed backgrounds (who naturally enough us all seem the same).
I think with iMovie and better music, someone could make a better, shorter movie of this material. It should be all about the water. In spite of this starting out with the clear announcement: "no stereotypes," it is precisely about stereotypes and the realization that the filmmaker can't see it is a profound weight.
Precisely.
Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
