storm surfers 3d
Mid-ocean surfing is both terrifying and thrilling to behold
Storm Surfers 3D
every time a new surfing movie crests, my reaction is always the same. does the world need another wave-riding comedy ( Surfer, Dude), romance ( Blue Crush), feel-good drama ( Soul Surfer) or documentary ( Riding Giants)?
usually, the film fails to convince. But Storm Surfers is unlike any other surf doc. To begin with, it’s shot in 3d, joining the list of documentaries (Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Wim Wenders’ Pina) that must be seen in their full dimensionality to be fully appreciated.
directors Chris Nelius and Justin McMillan have rigged tiny 3d cameras to the boards, so viewers can ride the waves along with the surfers. In one spectacular sequence, after the water has crested, the bubbling froth makes it look as though we’re suddenly snowboarding. In longer shots, the roiling ocean swell looks like a living thing, larger than the biggest whale and potentially more dangerous.
Then there’s the setting. Pro surfers Tom Carroll and ross Clarke-Jones have been riding the waves since the 1980s, and they’ve grown tired of the same old same old. As the title suggests, their new target is storm-generated swells off the coast of their native Australia — sometimes many tens of kilometres out to sea.
They’re aided by “surf meteorologist” Ben Matson, whose reactions to extreme weather are opposite to that of most forecasters. The wilder and higher the waves, the happier he is about it.
Carroll and Clarke-Jones are seeking out dangerous waters, but they’re hardly unprepared. With their off-road vehicles pulling jet skis, and their ability to criss-cross the continent on short notice, hiring aircraft to scout the waves, and fishing boats to carry them out to sea, they’re clearly well-heeled adventurers.
A little more background information might help humanize the film’s subjects. Is it possible to get that wealthy from a lifetime of surfing, or do they have other means? Also, there is a brief mention (and footage) or both men’s children, but little sense of what the women in their lives (if there are any) think of their waveriding proclivities.
And while the directors want to make something out of Carroll’s age — he’s almost 50, and there are moments when he seems to be losing his nerve — the men aren’t much for introspection. The hilarious exception is when ClarkeJones, with an appealing lack of Freudian subtlety, describes what he thinks about when a huge wave pins him down, and the filmmakers oblige by creating the scene.
So we’re stuck with a mostly surface view, but what a surface! Mid-ocean surfing, without the comforting embrace of a shoreline, is both terrifying and thrilling to behold, and there are several instances in which the ocean’s unpredictable nature threatens to separate body and soul.
Tom has a particularly rough time, losing a jet ski to one rogue wave and being almost drowned by another. No wonder he’s considering hanging up his wetsuit. But it’s great to see these two friends tackle some of the most unrestrained water on the planet. Cowabunga indeed!
Storm Surfers is preceded by Foxed!, a remarkably creepy four-minute short in which a little girl tries to escape an underground mine where she’s been imprisoned by foxes. Imagine a horrible childhood nightmare put on film, without a happy ending. Technically impressive but oh-so-dark. ΔΔΔ