drift, perspectives in surfing

‘Fresh Fruit for Rotten Vegetables’ is the new film from Steve Cleveland (the man behind ‘Another State of Mind’), but is it any good?

Yes it is! You can stop reading now if you like and just go buy it if you are short of time.

The title may seem an odd one but it’s a reference to an old Dead Kennedys’ record, a seminal SoCal punk band that you should check out if you don’t know already. The film itself sits very much in the surf flick category rather than the art film camp a la Thomas Campbell and friends. This is not in any way a derogatory comment, plenty of care and attention has been lavished on it. The footage is well shot, varied and well lit and the editing is slick, innovative and not so ‘pop video’ as to be intrusive.

There’s a pretty much 50-50 split of progressive and traditional longboarding along with a sprinkling of shortboards, fish, hulls and the now obligatory alaia shots. Highlights on the progressive side are probably Harley Ingleby’s full bore style, Taylor Jensen pulling legitimate airs on a 9 footer and Beau Young, Bonga and friends charging barrels in Indo. There’s even a glimpse of our own Elliot Dudley if you are sharp eyed!

From a traditional perspective there is some mindblowing  noseriding and so much good stuff it’s difficult to summarise. one thing that is clear is how much the standard has gone through the roof in the last five years. People are pulling stuff that was not even thought possible a few years ago, take Chad Marshall’s fins first hang heels for example. (Take a moment to visualise that - mental!) It’s a comment that is particularly true of the girls’ side, with Kassia Meador now pulling smooth hang heels and hang five foot drags seemingly at will.

Elsewhere, Knost is Knost, Pickle is smooth, Jai Lee & DP rule Noosa and CJ Nelson is still one of the most talented surfers around. It was good to see some current footage of Tudor too.

I always think that the test of a good surf film is whether it makes you want to get to the beach afterwards. In this case it’s a resounding “Yes!”