BLUE CRUSH

A View Through The Pipeline
Guest Review by Mike Flores
I love surf movies and teen beach films and I always have. From the documentaries such as Endless Summer to the silly escapism of Beach Blanket Bingo, nothing pleases me more than curling up with popcorn to view a beach movie. I like the water, the waves, the wet girls and the teen culture they represent. Now this genre is bathed in nostalgia and relegated to screenings on American Movie Classics (which I still watch) and frankly, I didn’t really think the genre would ever come back. Happily, I was wrong.

Blue Crush has surf footage that goes far beyond anything I have ever seen before. The relationships of the characters and the high-quality acting will sustain your interest on the small screen, but the ocean scenes will flabbergast you on the big screen. You must get off your butt and go see this film in the theater.

The story is about a group of surfer girls who live together in Hawaii, working as hotel maids and surfing whenever they can. Anne Marie, played by Kate Bosworth (the hot blonde in the ads), takes care of her sister Penny (played by newcomer Mika Boorem). Their mom has split for Vegas with her latest lover. Anne Marie is in training for the upcoming Pipe Masters tournament, while trying to overcome her fear that she has had since she almost drowned in a competition three years earlier. Roommate Eden, who wants Anne to win and pushes her to focus on training, is played by Psychotronic fave Michelle Rodriguez (The Fast and The Furious, Resident Evil). Real-life surfer Sanoe Lake adds realism to the household. The required love interest in the film (hey, some things never change) is a football player named Matt, played by Matthew Davis, who finds himself falling for Anne. Who wouldn’t?

Director John Stockwell twists the old genre rules by having the women as the surfers, and cast real life surfers Kate Skarrat, Rochelle Ballard and Megan Abubo as the stuntwomen. The result is surfing footage the likes of which I have never seen before, proving that the director, scriptwriter and cinematographers did their homework. I actually felt like I was in the pipeline, the water crashing overhead. Surfers will quickly appreciate that this isn’t some Hollywooden version of their lives. The music rocks as well; the sequence with the P.O.D. song “Youth of the Nation” is especially memorable.

No, the film didn’t have to be as well cast as it is. It didn’t have to go as far with the camerawork as it does. It didn’t have to portray the hoods as locals pissed off at the tourists, which is very real in Hawaii. It didn’t have to do the genre one better than what came before. But Blue Crush does all this and more. I believe it will become a cult classic, and I will get the DVD, which I hope is jam-packed with extras. But this is a film that should be seen first on the big screen.