Step Into Liquid

STEP INTO LIQUID (2003) ***1/2 (Featuring as themselves: Rochelle Ballard, Shawn Barron, Layne Beachley, Jesse Brad Billauer, Taj Burrow, Ken Collins, Darrick Doerner, Brad Gerlach, Laird Hamilton, Dave Kalama, Keala Kennelly, Alex Knost, Jim Knost, Rob Machado, Chris Malloy, Dan Malloy, Keith Malloy, Peter Mel, Mike Parsons, Kelly Slater, Mike Waltze. Surf's up dude! Surfing enthusiast cum documentarian Dana Brown, son of filmmaker Bruce Brown who helmed the sport's quintessential flicks 'The Endless Summer' and 'The Endless Summer 2', picks up from his dad about the way of life for the thrill-seeking, daredevil and nature worshipping oceanographers of waycool as they embark on a globetrotting look at the awesome spectacle of catching a wave without it catching you! Jaw-dropping cinematography of 60 foot avalanches of ocean's crests glistening in glass clear blue water off Oahu, Ireland (!) and such exotic locales as Rapu Nui , Vietnam and Sheboygan, Wisconsin (!!!) Truly amazing for those uninitiated and for purists there is no substitute in realizing that it's a style of life and not a lifestyle. The real-life surfers show unbridled passion at what makes it all worth while – enjoying something you love; what's not to admire about that 'philosophy'.

I'm not a surfer, but, man, I sure wish I was. Before seeing this film, I was wary of a surfing movie made by the son of Bruce Brown, who made the famous surfing movie "The Endless Summer" something like 30 years ago. I expected that the son, Dana, would just be cashing in on his semi-famous name. But, those worries were unfounded. This documentary exudes a powerful love of and respect for the ocean. The surfing footage is unbelievable, it puts most special effects to shame, yet this is the real thing. The stunning cinematography complements the fabulous editing. I was spellbound. It's not often that I come away from watching a movie feeling exhilaration, awe, amazement. One word of advice -- watch it on the biggest, best screen you can find.

Bruce Brown made (in my book) some of the most entertaining movies ever, most of which happened to be about surfing. Son Dana gives it a college try with mixed results. The quality, subjects, waves and angles of the surfing photography are fantastic. But this is definitely a different experience from Pop's work, which was largely visual (he started out doing them in a hall with live commentary over his video). Dad had cool shots with good instrumental music and frequent light humor. A pleasant 1 1/2 hour interlude with no place it had to be that sort of wrapped up whenever. Step Into is a much more polished, "busier" film -- louder music with vocals, tons of interviews, much more a serious documentary about the surfing life. Problem is, Dana brings some of dad's elements with him (like the constant narration) and I don't think it works as a whole. It doesn't take that much to make me happy with a surfing film, I adore the recent, pure and simple Thicker Than Water (2000). This one just has too much stuff I don't want. I tried watching it again and after a few minutes popped one of dad's old films in the VCR (sorry). Because I can't completely knock a movie that lets Gerry Lopez talk and has Laird Hamilton doing 50 foot waves I give it an 8 out of 10.

Step Into Liquid is full of breathtaking cinematography of (mostly American) surfers achieving heroic feats of beauty in the lap of Neptune. From the crazy Californians who boat 100 miles off shore to ride 60-foot waves breaking over an underwater mountain, to a paralyzed former surf phenom who manages to get back into the tide splashing near shore, to creative nutcases in south Texas who surf in the wake of oil supertankers in a 15-mile-wide canal, the movie offers a snapshot of the breadth of the sport as practiced in an endless number of ways wherever water, for whatever reason, forms waves.

Unfortunately the movie is not edited with the same grace with which its subjects navigate the waves. The director's ceaseless voiceover offers few opportunities for self-reflection during the film, and pounds the poetry into sentiment. Music is used haphazardly and too frequently to add unneeded emphasis to the footage. The use of "white boy angst" hard rock under much of the footage gives it the feeling of a cheap extreme sports video; all that's missing are the pseudo-MTV titles in the bottom-left corner to identify the Limp Biskit wannabees at the end of each scene. This film could have been great if it had been edited with a modicum of restraint, if the filmmakers had been content to let its themes be implied rather than stated over and over again in talking-head interviews and the voiceover. By the end you feel like you've watched a spectacular motivational seminar training film instead of a true drama.

Nonetheless the movie is mostly enjoyable, and the subject itself is interesting, amazing, and often funny (the Green Bay Packer fans surfing in Lake Michigan off the shores of Milwaukee ought to have their own sitcom, and might if the right person sees the movie...).

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.