RIDING GIANTS
Just as the title says, this disc is about big wave riding. Directed by Stacy Peralta, world renowned skater and director of the documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, Riding Giants focuses on pioneer Greg Noll and traces surfing from the fifties to the present with Laird Hamilton. Not the ordinary surf film, it’s a particularly uncommon documentary, tracing the ascent of surfing’s appeal to young males and the history of big wave surfing.
The first third of the film centers on Greg Noll and the early days of surfing until the eighties when pro surfers brought personality back into the sport and shorter boards were more common. Much is focused on Waimea surfing and the huge waves surfers ride.
Next is a section on Mavericks, a surf spot held secret for fifteen years by Jeff Clark. It’s an area he found in his backyard off the coast of Northern California outside San Francisco. Looking out from his school he saw a huge wave breaking consistently in the distance. One day he set out to ride it and kept it a secret until 1990. It is an area surfers have to paddle forty five minutes to get to, a trek in rough, cold waters with treacherous rocks near by. The waves rival Waimea, in size and complexity, a sight to behold. Clark describes how he “never had water move so fast under a board before.”
The section doesn’t ignore the dangers of the spot, noting the death of Mark Foo and discussing the pros and cons of using a leash in waves over twenty feet tall. The leash can tie surfers to a rock below or be used to climb back to the surface to return to their board.
The final act focuses on Laird Hamilton, the best big wave rider in the world, taking a look at tow-in surfing that allows surfers to catch enormous waves up to eighty feet in size. Hamilton explains that it isn’t so much the complexity of the wave but the struggle to catch it since the wave is moving terribly fast. Getting out there begat jet skis that towed surfers out to the wave where they caught it sans paddling.
These waves are tremendous in size and surfers travel on them at thirty five miles an hour, they almost disappear on the face of the wave. It’s like man being able to play on the filed with dinosaurs. This relatively new way of riding is another step in the evolution of surfing, taking the leap with on one of Mother Nature’s greatest thrill rides. Riding Giants illustrates humanity’s capability to express wonder and embrace it to the fullest
- Brian Tucker
STEP INTO LIQUID
“Once you surf, you’re in the club,” says six time world champion Kelly Slater. “It’s like the mob. You can’t get out.”
Dan Brown’s Step Into Liquid showcases the soul and spirit of surfing. His camera travels all over the globe, from Hawaii to Vietnam, Wisconsin to Tahiti, telling a spot on story of surfing and its lifestyle. Brown, son of Endless Summer’s Bruce Brown, follows surfers over and under waves, catching their success and falls. One spectacular shot follows a surfer diving under a wave, beautifully capturing the roll from the below the surface.
In Hawaii, Laird Hamilton rides waves of incredible size, so large he’s towed out to them by Jet Ski, leaving one to wonder what drives someone to take such a risk. The answer is the fulfillment of passion for surfing, something that is genuinely lost on much of popular sports today. But surfing is more of a way of life than a sport.
“Can you describe a color to someone?” asks Hamilton. “No, you can’t. You have to see it to understand it.” You have to do it, be an active participant.
Surfing was a rebellious past time that exploded during the early sixties into mainstream culture. If surfing is a sport, then it is one still misunderstood and looked upon with a strained eye. Philosophical as it is daring and dangerous, surfing is displayed in. Step Into Liquid as much for its individuality as well as its fervor. Much of the blame for surfing stereotypes rests with modern media and movies. Step Into Liquid does well to squash the sound bites of ‘Hey Dude’ and Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Especially with the fact that necessity is the mother of invention when it comes to catching waves, any waves. In the absence of an ocean or acceptable waves, surfers have a knack for finding a solution. In Wisconsin, on Lake Michigan, locals wait for winds to emerge and then take to surfing the resulting waves. It may not be Hawaii but the excitement is evident on their faces, enjoying each wave as though it were the last. In Texas, surfers take a boat ride into the ocean to surf the wake of a super tanker.
“You can ride the same wave for a long time,” says one of the surfers. The men ride continuously, while the super tanker moves along in the distance. It’s a fantastic and outlandish sight captured on film.
The Malloy Brothers return to Ireland where their family hails from to surf. The locals come out to watch, uncertain whether the brothers will head into the icy water. Later, they bring boys and girls from Northern Ireland, Protestants, and they surf in the same ocean as Catholic boys and girls. While the rest of the country is at odds over religion, these children find a common ground in the water with surfing.
The film also follows a veteran of Vietnam back to Da Nang to surf again and chronicles a paralyzed surfer. And then there’s Dale Webster, who’s surfed everyday since 1976 in which to set a record of surfing over 10,000 days. In Tahiti the film focuses on three female surfers who embody the precision and enjoyment of surfing. In a field that once shunned female surfers, these women show off their talent.
“Who’s the best surfer in the world?” Keala Kenelly asks rhetorically. “The one that’s having the most fun.”
- Brian Tucker
UNTIDALED
Oh what fun it must be to hit the road for some great surfing footage, from the United States east coast to California, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Untidaled is a straight up surf film, complete with non-stop footage occasionally interrupted by tomfoolery and bikini shots. It is essentially all surf action, beneath the curl of the waves and over the back of them.
Surfers are filmed shredding and toppling waves big and tall, bursting out of the sky blue colored barrels, foam blowing out just behind them. In New Jersey surfers tackle green surf that is rough and mushy, careful to avoid industrial pilings in the surf. Their ability to ride and avoid pitfalls is pure fun in itself, showcasing how far surfing has come in the last fifty years. Some scenes capture how amazing surfers are on a wave that they have no control over, sliding, twisting and slipping over the lip of a wave. It’s an elegant dance they do, maintaining balance and form on moving water.
The waves at Cape Hatteras are the most interesting, super fast, clean and crisp, propelling surfers out like shot through a gun. But they are no match for the big waves of Hawaii, skyscrapers themselves that are breathtaking but brutal and unsympathetic.
The forty five minute disc hosts a ton of surfers, from Jason Reagan to Tom Curren and Kelly Slater. It’s a fine disc of all action surfing. However, depending on what you like in a surf video it may or may not appeal.
Untidaled is less a documentary and focuses strictly on action. There’s no interviews with the surfers or comments from spectators or the filmmakers. It’s all action, which many may prefer. The footage is accompanied by established popular music from The Cult, Marilyn Manson, 50 Cent, The Bravery and Danzig. It would have been more interesting to have the scenes accompanied by lesser known artists (like bands on the film’s soundtrack TSOL and Social Distortion). Given that surfing, at its heart, is still an underground activity, the music used would have been more compelling were it lesser known.
Untidaled is a welcome addition to any collection of surf films. Watch it with your own tunes or as is, it’s still a lot of fun to watch.
- Brian Tucker
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