Step Into Liquid (2003)

I wanted to but couldn't!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

'Step Into Liquid' director and writer carries on the torch of his father, Bruce Brown's legacy with an even more intense, but momentary glimpse into a rather incredible sport in a sort of follow up made more than thirty-five years later after The Endless Summer. Though difficult for the loyal surfer to explain his love for surfing, which the surfers and filmmakers assure audiences that the "way of life" is as inexplicable as trying to explain what describe what colors look like, Dana Brown and others make an excellent effort in trying to reveal through words and visuals why this sport is indeed "their way of life." As the filmmakers traverse the globe, following more than just an endless summer, they feature thousands of surfers in even some of the most unusual locations (Wisconsin, Rapa Nui, Ireland, etc.) where the participants in the sport each have their own definition of the perfect wave, that extreme point where nature meets a fiberglass board and makes the rider feel so stoked and so addicted. It may be difficult to explain to the non-surfer, or probably even to the surfer, but Dana Brown and others make a wonderful attempt at capturing one of the oldest sports. While the actual ride itself is an intense experience, it is an adrenaline rush to watch it. And, even for the non-surfer, it can be appreciated on the level that you may feel this way about something you participate in, whether it be another sport or activity altogether. That, I highly admire.This film offers amazing footage and it's accompanying glorious scenery (and sometimes, not so glorious) and interviews from more than just the most well-known surfers. The DVD package also includes a hefty supply of special features, including the full-game version of Kelly Slater's pro-surfer, additional interviews, and so forth. It is a stacked supply for surfing appreciation destined to make even the most indifferent of audiences stoked.

Dana Brown, the son of legendary film maker Bruce Brown, continues the family tradition with his own take on the world of people that are totally committed to ride those waves, no matter where. In a way, this is another installment in the way Brown sees the world of the surfers as he takes us all over the world to show us what people will do in order to discover the perfect wave, and ride it.The brilliant cinematography is amazing to watch. Things obviously have improved greatly since Bruce Brown pioneered this genre of documentary. We get glimpses of Oahu, with its rugged coast and giant waves. We are taken to places like Rapa Nui, Ireland, Viet Nam and even Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where we had no idea people will go to their rough lake to surf! Someone made a comment about the title being pretentious, but in reality, the line comes right from one woman that is being interviewed and says she feels like "stepping into liquid" whenever she is surfing.The film is beautiful to watch. It could have used some editing, but in general Dana Brown ought to be congratulated by what he has captured on camera for fans of the sport and just plain folks that will be, no doubt, wowed by what they see on the screen.

Parts of the film move slowly but the photography throughout is stunning and the human interest stories compelling. I especially enjoyed the segment of the Catholic and Protestant children surfing together in Norther Ireland and vignettes such as of Dave Webster who has been surfing every day for the past 24 years and of a fellow who became paralyzed in a surfing accident and yet continues to surf in his own way.All of this coupled with some of the best surfing photography I have ever seen anywhere makes it a great film.

Like watching top notch aerial trapeze artists or gifted dancers, beholding the world's best surfers riding momentous 20 to 60 foot waves is a thoroughly entertaining, at times mesmerizing experience. The young masters of this sport display consummate athleticism, not to mention courage, abandon, an ultimate level in the pursuit of thrills, rivaled perhaps only by the most difficult reaches of alpine skiing. In this film, Brown extends the tradition initiated 37 years ago by his father, Bruce Brown, who made the first great surfer film, "The Endless Summer," released in 1966. There are interesting contrasts between the two movies. "Endless Summer" was a simple, lyrical ode to the pleasures of youth, following two young amateur surfers as they sought the adventure of new surfs at beaches around the world. A road movie propelled by waves. The music was soft and easy and had continuity, and Brown pere's narration was full of adolescent good humor. "Liquid" is more complex in several senses. It's structure is one of brief separate surfing stories, and it features a larger number of surfers, several of them seasoned pros. It is a more political film as well, setting two of its stories in Vietnam and Ireland, where, Brown suggests, teaching some kids to surf may help right the world's wrongs. It is definitely more techie. Surfers launch into the biggest waves in Hawaii and on the Cortez Bank after being towed into position by large jet ski rigs, analogous to helicopter skiing. Some surfers use a most peculiar hydrofoil board contraption, the stability of which defies simple logic. Technical achievements in filming abound as well. The film also puts a face on danger, featuring in one episode a young man rendered quadriplegic by a surfing accident.Professionalization, politics, technology, danger. Clear and present overtones in the culture of our times. It follows that, overall, the biggest contrast between the films lies in the seriousness of "Liquid." For all of its narrative allusions to pure fun as the main goal of a surfer's life, and occasional antics that amuse (surfing in Sheboygan, Michigan for one), there is a pervasive earnestness in the stories. Simple fun in 2003 is harder to purchase than it was in flower child times. We are now less innocent. Still, if you liked the original (I have seen it at least three times), you will find this one absorbing as well. What's really fun is to see it in a theater like I did, surrounded by aging (former?) surfers whose laughter helps balance the film's somewhat somber tone.