143. Between Land And Sea; movei review

BETWEEN LAND AND SEA
Cert TBA
87 mins
BBFC advice: TBA

Ah, those surfers. They risk life and limb to ride on the biggest waves they can find.
There is no doubt that the drama of the crashing seas makes for great images, particularly when a surfer emerges from a pipe of water which threatens to wipe him out.
However, while I found Ross Whitaker's Between Land And Sea moderately interesting, I have watched many more fascinating insights into surfing.
Whitaker's movie is set in and off the Irish coastal town of Lahinch and follows both local surfers and foreigners who have moved there because of the spectacular breakers and the easygoing lifestyle.
But why? Are they the best surfers on the planet? Have they won prestigious competitions?
Who knows? This is another of those documentaries which, because of its lack of narrative, presumes knowledge from its audience.
To be fair, it is probably aimed squarely at the surfing community and they may well be aware of the history of the participants but I wasn't.
Indeed, I wasn't clear on what the film was trying to achieve because it spends as much time on land as it does at sea.
Surprisingly, it features men who are at the end of their surfing careers and entering new spheres such a starting families and even building their own homes.
This is all very fine and they seem like nice folk but I couldn't really fathom why they were worth air time more than anyone else starting on a new path.
Thus, the only character I was left holding on to was a local grandfather who has long been obsessed with swimming in the sea.
He had nowt to do with surfing but he felt more real than the folk who are trying to live off the land while bringing up a baby in a yurt.
Whitaker didn't have a large budget and still comes up with dramatic surf scenes but I was still a little lost at the premise of the movie.

Reasons to watch: Dramatic surf footage
Reasons to avoid: Not much between the action shots

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 6/10

Director quote - Ross Whitaker: "One of the most daunting but ultimately helpful aspects of starting this documentary was realising that I had very much a blank page in front of me. I knew very little about surfing, so I tried to turn that into a positive."

The big question - Why on earth would you?

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