[A] wonderful, captivating documentary.

Full Review | Jan 28, 2020

You can't stop watching, but every fiber of your being is still shouting, "Put the goddamn camera down!"

Full Review | Oct 17, 2018

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 18, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 17, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Sep 7, 2011

New Bohemian lifestyle: good, bad, or neutral?

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 21, 2009

This documentary about a famous family of nomadic surfers is fascinating not only because of the certifiable oddball patriarch, but also because of his endlessly creative offspring.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Feb 11, 2009

The fallout decades later provides the drama in this documentary by Doug Pray, who lets his eccentric octogenarian subject off a little too easy.

Full Review | Dec 17, 2008

Intriguing family story of the sunny and dark sides of extreme home-schooling by surfing, through a trove of photos, home movies, and reminiscences, but little insight.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Dec 7, 2008

Surfwise will make you hug your parents a little harder the next time you see them.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 4, 2008

Provocative but even-handed subculture lifestyle film.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Nov 30, 2008

Doug Pray, has made a fascinating look at a man who not only was a great revolutionary, but a pure human being.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 17, 2008

Pray's fast-paced editing matches the Paskowitzes' rootless existence, though at times it's difficult to keep track of who's who.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 1, 2008

The most fascinating parts of the movie explore how the Paskowitz children -- who are now in their 30s and 40s -- continue to adjust to a more 'normal' lifestyle.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 31, 2008

A provocative documentary about a man who dropped out to follow a dream that gradually evolved into something not unlike a nightmare.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 18, 2008

Not just the story of one man's obsessive quest to find harmony on a plank of wood, Surfwise offers a cautionary tale about parenting, homeschooling (camper-schooling, actually), sibling rivalries and family sacrifice.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 26, 2008

Surfwise is a graceful, searching film that seems to have missed no opportunity to reveal truths about parents and children and how they come to understand each other.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 20, 2008

The film's director, Doug Pray, has been able to track down each and every Paskowitz child, and he weaves their memories together with old home movies, still photos and news clippings to create an evocative portrait of their lives.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 20, 2008

Some documentarians think like essayists, propagandists, abstract painters, or magazine reporters. Doug Pray approaches his documentaries as though he's writing books.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Jun 19, 2008

The unorthodox upbringing of the Paskowitz clan is the subject of Surfwise, the story of a family who lived on the road, camped at the beachfront and fashioned its own vanguard version of 1960s-'70s alternative lifestyles.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 19, 2008