New surf movies

[coastie]

What about new logging flicks
For me I love Seedling/Sprout and Tyler in Single Fin Yellow is wicked!

[Beanpole]

Yeah, I have been wanting to see those for a while. The last newish movie I saw was Down Side Up, I think. Hot surfing but pretty repetative. The usual crew, some good Hawaiian footage.
That Bonga Perkins movie was interesting too with some great footage but I find it hard to listen to testimonials about anyone more than a couple of times.
The real mark of a surf movie is if you can watch it over and over and still think, hey, I wouldn't mind putting that on as a bit of wallpaper on a rainy afternoon.
Siestas and Olas would have to be the epitomy of a great longboarding movie new or old for that. A real road trip and funny.
Just by making a movie about a specific thing: A trip, a surfboard or even an activity you make it all have some context . Otherwise its just a lot of footage with sound. A lot of movies, like the mags all look so similar there's no motivation to see another one.
I bought a cheapy- Surfing, Thats Life a few years ago which was pretty rough but it had old Joe Larkin making an old style hollow wooden board in his shed. That added another dimension to the movie. At least for me since I bought my first new surfboard off him at Kirra a million years ago.

But from what Ive read about Seedling, Sprout and Single Fin Yellow I should get off my arse and have a look at them.

[Morgan The Moon]

It would be so hard to make a movie wholly about logging - to maintain the viewers interest in the subtleties and nuances on display.

As a film maker I reckon it would take an amazing amount of integrity to keep to the subject matter (logging) and not slip in the odd shot of some hot longboarder tackling some mackin' Indo reef, just to raise the excitement levels and maybe get back a better return on your investment.

3 new-ish movies come to mind :

The Seedling - I rate this one higher than Sprout cos it's all about being on a head high and under trip. There's that section on Joels quiver to mix it up a bit, and those arty bits.....and then there's fecal man

Lines from a poem - Every time I watch this movie I pray for a chest high rolling wave the next morning. There's a good mix of local guys and international talent, surfing places we've all been to before. Really nice traditional longboarding put over some local music ( had to get Purplene's album after watching this flick).

Single Fin Yellow - There's enough been said 'bout this already. Great flick and there's a hot longboarder tackling macking North Shore Hawaii on a log (what was I saying earlier??) - still don't know why Bonga decided to take on Pipe on yellow, mustn't have liked the board much.

Those are my 3 top rated logging movies, and I'm with Beanpole, Siestas and Olas is a top movie [/i]

[Longygrom]

Yeah definately Lines From A Poem, top movie though some of the footage was out of focus. It is for me one of my favs because it is set close to home in waves that we all surf, which puts the surfers skill levels in perspective.

The Seedling pretty much made me the surfer i am now and i watched it religiously to get some of the moves down-especially the bu' section.

The Sprout just fermented everything i knew and was just what i needed to stay on alternate equipment in a modern day which is not so accomadating to that style of surfing (well at my beach anyway)

Hang is just a laugh and Walls of Glass has some OK sections including a Santa Cruz section with CJ Nelson and Craig Harvey form Oz doing some ridiculous airs on longboards.

Glass Love, Litmus and Shelter, although small board focused are great

[WANDERER]

airs on a mal? *shakes head and sighs*

[buzzy]

I'm not a longboarder although I do use alternative boards (fish and egg) as well as shortboards.

I absolutely love "Single Fin;Yellow". Without equivocation I say it is the best surf film I have ever seen. And I say that as a non longboarder about a film purely about longboarding.

I love in one sense the style and ambience of the Sprout/Seedling/Litmus/Glass Love genre of mixed longboarding and alternative shortboards but liked Seedling the least for the same reasons Longygrom liked it the most. It was less relevant to the type of surfing I do. I can't remember whether the segment on I think it's Alex Knost is in Seedling or in Sprout but the shortboard segments kind of illustrate my annoyance...his shortboard surfing just isn't very good. But the thing that kind of annoys me is each sort of has an auto select archetypal "alternative" surfer ideal which is subliminally promoted. Kidman celebrates the early 70's inspired soul surfer...the music is so early 70's folk rock etc etc, and Seedling etc promotes a similar but different ideal of the artist as surfer. Nothing wrong with that but I just think it's a kind of narrow minded manifestation of broad mindedness if you know what I mean. I mean, a more broad minded approach would feature a hot surfer whose also a top executive or successful accountant or the like who is also a really cool guy. There's heaps of them...just they aren't cool...

Having said that I love the films...well shot, great music, interesting stories and sometimes interesting people. Those are the ones getting repeat viewing.

[Beanpole]

Good call, Buzzy. I have been waiting for a movie that shows a bunch of merchant bankers carving up some exotic location to celebrate their latest killing on the stock market .
Maybe they could go surfing at one of their tax havens.
You could probably get them to fund it as a tax right off.

[the kalakau kid]

Wanto, you're right about the dedication of time but wrong on the stereotypes. Surfers with corporate jobs are all around you. Its a constant juggle of time & tide but plenty of people do it.

Two friends of mine who wear suits to work most days just got back from 3 weeks in indo including back to back 6ft + swells in the mentawis. Then there's guys like Rod Kirsop who work their arse off as doctors and still get to hawaii every year.
I see where Buzzy is coming from and the response from you guys proves his point. Knost is really just another kind of pro surfer; breaking the stereotype completely is much harder to do.

Anyway, back to the movies......

Just found out that my copies of Sprout and A broken Down Melody are in the shop so I'm hoping that they will become my new wallpaper. The other one missing from discussions so far is Thicker than Water..but its not really a purist longboard film; more about the vibe. But thats the whole point isn't it?

[bondi]

Scratching the Surface and a new one called Style which comes out next month are by far the best longboarding flicks in the past 4 years!


Sprout and The Seedling are brilliant but no longer classified as 'new' this was 2002 & 2004.

[buzzy]

Aside from Rod Kirsop a few other guys who come immediately to mind who are ripping surfers and have pursued other interests are Kingsley Looker, Dean Curotta and Matt Lee-Jones. Kingsley was a top 16 pro in his day and won a couple of contests, including as I recall the Beaurepaires down at Cronulla. He is also a really good (but really daggy) musician of some fame. Matt was a top corporate lawyer at a major national firm. I'm pretty sure he was Northern Beaches Schoolboys champ in the era of Dooma Harman etc and I know he was Uni champ. Another bloke is Dean Curotta (brother of the well known Brett of Surfection fame). Dean is an excellent surfer, and very successful economist. Last I heard he was in Shanghai on a 6 month contract.

Just three examples from my own eperience.

[Beanpole]

Buzzy, the old call that surfing ability is a sign of a misspent youth is probably put to rest. Ginge obviously comes to mind as well. I just wonder who wants to see these guys in a movie.

[buzzy]

Yeah, I wouldn't necessarily want to see those guys in a surf movie either. It's just that when those "alternative" films claim to preach a more inclusive, less narrow definition of what surfing is they nonetheless present a fairlyy narrow representation of the surfing demographic. Instead of the 15-25yo shortboard ripper of the mainstream they instead present a 25-40yo soul slider. I think it's still narrow, just different narrow. That's all.

I have to confess though I reckon the most soulful surfer is the guy who goes to work every day, still manages to surf most days and surfs well, is a good and loyal family man, gives back to his community etc etc. Every community has these guys and, no disrespect to Kelly Slater or Beau Young or Rasta but I reckon that type of guy is far more worthy of our respect that the surf heros typically promoted in surf media (of all types).

[Longygrom]

Yes, totally agree Buzzy about the hero thing.

P.S- Alex rips on a shortboard but in Sprout he was surfing 'unihibited', which is what the movies vibe is about- riding whatever board in whatever style.

He was using arms to turn (body weight transfers when he throws his arms up) and hands in the wall to slide, a different approach by any means.