London TIMES (January 2007) The best surfing movies: I blame Pat at the Chapel Idne Surf Shop in Sennen Cove. Until I popped in to buy a new wetsuit - one warm enough for northern Scotland in a couple weeks - I'd been pretty sure of my favorite surfing movies. Obviously there were the Endless Summers, Salt Water Wine, Free Ride, Morning of the Earth and, inevitably, Big Wednesday. There was no room for the ridiculous Point Break, but a lot of time for anything to do with Stacy Peralta (including all the Bones Brigade films. NB: this is subjective list, and includes skate films, not least Dogtown). Apocalypse Now remained my favorite film across all genres, but I'm pretty sure the surfing/Wagner vignette had as much effect as the metamorphosis of Conrad's Heart of Darkness from the Congo to Vietnam. Much less Conradian, but none the worse for that, is the excellent Cold Rush, which I commend to anyone still unconvinced by the idea of quality surf on these shores. But then Pat went and made a recommendation, and my sense of the surf movie canon collapsed.?? Pat suggested Zen & Zero, a film touted as a cinematic slice of pure Hunter S. Thompson gonzo, but which seems to me to be a lot closer to Wim Wenders' Buena Vista Social Club. It's about five Austrians - yes, Austrians - and their surfari from California to Costa Rica, where they meet a slightly dazed but eminently lucid Allan Weisbecker, the enigmatic author of In Search of Captain Zero. En route they score some Puerto Escondido surf that is is stirring as the film's (surely Ry Cooder inspired?) soundtrack, and also run into an Austrian surfing legend whose attempt to introduce the concept of "easy-going" to his countrymen was so successful that he decided to emigrate to the Canary Islands.?? There are great waves throughout, but this is no ordinary surf movie. The film-makers co- opt Robert Musil, one of the 20th century's more challenging writers, into their quest, for their aim is "to research the myth of the surfer dude with what Musil called 'exactness in emotional matters'." In effect, they bring a European sensibility of analysis and reflection to something which is often characterized by its absolute non-engagement with introspection.?? Is this a good thing? Or have they all smoked more weed than even Weisbecker in his drug- smuggling former life??? Well, I've just watched the film for the second time. Its only flaw is that it's not long enough. It's a mesmerizing piece of cinema: - subtle, self-deprecating, inspiring and even a little profound. I can't think of anything quite like it, save for the similarly enriching Buena Vista. The music is as irresistible as the left-handers of Pavones, and the cinematography a world away from a run-of-the-mill gonzo flick. It'll have you heading for Costa Rica in no time, and it'll make you think twice about writing off a surfer from a land-locked country ever again.?? But now I've got some thinking to do. Five guys from Austria go and unlock the heart of stoke, and my surf movie canon needs a reappraisal. Zen & Zero is up there with the best of 'em, but what else is out there? Let me know, and we'll figure out the Top 10 Surf Movies of all time (to include, if you don't mind, at least one skate film that I'll select from the Peralta catalog). For now, as they say in Central America (and at the end of Future Primitive), vaya con dios
SURFER MAGAZINE (October 2006) If you ever needed reassurance that the rebel heart of surfing is still beating strong under the slow strangulation of rampant mainstreaming, this film is for you. Zen and Zero, which explores the ambiguous metaphors of surfing through the dust-choked eyes of five transplanted Austrians on the quintessential pig-latitude road-trip, swept Best Story and Best Director at this year's X-Dance film festival and continues to garner trophies on its international festival run. Employing a hardboiled Hunter S. Thompson-esquire narration style crossed with a driving, surf-meets-Spaghetti-Western soundtrack (masterfully scored by Herwig Maurer), this soulful 16mm film lets you ride shotgun on a 7,000-mile surfing pilgrimage, complete with flat tires, Federales and happy buzzards feasting on bloated road- kill. Paying tribute to Bruce Brown's 1960 classic, Surf Crazy, the crew of amiable Austrians journeys the length of the Pan-American Highway from Los Angeles to Costa Rica in search of Captain Zero and the zeitgeist of Dudeness.? Funded mostly on the film-makers' credit cards, Zen and Zero is refreshingly free of gratuitous logo shots and forced sponsored-rider antics, proving that surfing is not so much about riding a wave as living on one. - Steve Barilotti
SANTA BARBARA INDEPENDENT (January 2007) Perhaps the best film in the category (TO THE MAXX)--and maybe one of the true hidden treasures of the entire Santa Barbara Film Festival 2007--is "Zen and Zero", a gritty, melodic, surf-stuffed tale of five Austrian surfers looking for philosophical enlightenment and waves on the road from Los Angeles to where the road ends in Costa Rica. Made with a shoestring budget and shot in 16mm, this movie has been taking festival audiences by the storm for the last year.
SURFER MAGAZINE (October 2006) If you ever needed reassurance that the rebel heart of surfing is still beating strong under the slow strangulation of rampant mainstreaming, this film is for you. Zen and Zero, which explores the ambiguous metaphors of surfing through the dust-choked eyes of five transplanted Austrians on the quintessential pig-latitude road-trip, swept Best Story and Best Director at this year's X-Dance film festival and continues to garner trophies on its international festival run. Employing a hardboiled Hunter S. Thompson-esquire narration style crossed with a driving, surf-meets-Spaghetti-Western soundtrack (masterfully scored by Herwig Maurer), this soulful 16mm film lets you ride shotgun on a 7,000-mile surfing pilgrimage, complete with flat tires, Federales and happy buzzards feasting on bloated road- kill. Paying tribute to Bruce Brown's 1960 classic, Surf Crazy, the crew of amiable Austrians journeys the length of the Pan-American Highway from Los Angeles to Costa Rica in search of Captain Zero and the zeitgeist of Dudeness.? Funded mostly on the film-makers' credit cards, Zen and Zero is refreshingly free of gratuitous logo shots and forced sponsored-rider antics, proving that surfing is not so much about riding a wave as living on one. - Steve Barilotti
SANTA BARBARA INDEPENDENT (January 2007) Perhaps the best film in the category (TO THE MAXX)--and maybe one of the true hidden treasures of the entire Santa Barbara Film Festival 2007--is "Zen and Zero", a gritty, melodic, surf-stuffed tale of five Austrian surfers looking for philosophical enlightenment and waves on the road from Los Angeles to where the road ends in Costa Rica. Made with a shoestring budget and shot in 16mm, this movie has been taking festival audiences by the storm for the last year.
