The legendary filmmaking Brown clan and the surfers they film are devoted to finding the perfect wave to ride--a fantasy (for most of us, anyway) that has fueled quite a few movies and a fair number of careers. Granddaddy Bruce Brown's seminal '60s surf flick The Endless Summer set the style and format for countless later looks at alternative sports such as surfing, motocross racing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and others now lumped into the “X-games” category. Bruce's grandson Wes (with his partner T. J. Barrack) carry on the family tradition here with Islands in the Stream, chronicling a two-week Tahitian surfing trip (including the island of Teahupoo and another hidden spot 300 miles away referred to only as “Barbeque Island”) with some of the top surfers in the world, such as Layne Beachley, Tom Curren, Donovan Frankenreiter, Tamayo Perry, and Mark Healey. The Brown-style visuals are in full force here (and the producers wisely let the pictures do most of the talking), and while the narrative bits are weaker than in Bruce's son Dana's recent hit documentary Step Into Liquid (VL Online-4/04), viewers are more than compensated by the sight of waves built of crystal-clear water coupled with the athletic artistry of those who ride them. DVD extras include filmmaker and surfer bios and a music video. Recommended. Aud: P. (C. Block)
Islands in the Stream
(2004) 40 min. DVD: $19.95. Monterey Video. PPR. Color cover. ISBN: 1-56994-646-9. Volume 19, Issue 5
Islands in the Stream
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