Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen!
Now it's time to get to my review of Step Into Liquid:
Remember this comes from a non-surfing Midwesterner as well.
The preview of SIL was a huge success with the Arlington Theater selling out, but there were a few scattered empty seats here and there. Some reports had scalpers selling tickets to the first showing for up to $400.00 each.
I must say that the production quality of SIL is indeed top notch with it being in the digital format, awesome soundtrack, witty narration, interesting and inspiring interviews, and of course some of the biggest waves I have ever seen....Some smaller ones too, but each wave seems to have its own story as do the surfers.
By judging from the crowd reaction, the SIL screening was a huge cross-generational success with the ages varying from pre-teens up to grandparents. I must say that is one heck of a demographic for a documentary. There were hoots & hollers, ooh's and ahh's, and even an occasional gasp from much of the audience throughout the viewing with a loud applause at the end of the film.
The footage of Cortez Banks was fantastic with at least one of the waves expertly measured at 66'. Various shot angles from divers, jet skis, smaller boats, and both above and some under water. To sum it up in one word, AWESOME!
Much of the crowd stayed to view the credits and outtakes during the credits as well. Personally I am not one to sit in a theater to watch the credits of a movie, but I did anyway. Also towards the end of the credits there is a special thank you to NVEI Shareholders as well as many others.
Prior to the screening, a few people came out on stage and talked for a few minutes including NVEI's Chairman Ray Willenberg and Board Member Bruce Brown plus a few of the surfers that were in the movie.
Post screening, there was a Q&A session which was very interesting indeed with one of the questions being something like, "Where is your favorite place/waves to surf", with one of the best answers being "The ocean".
In my opinion this is more than a surfing documentary, but also a great human interest story with all the different people and their stories of surfing being told throughout the film.
I would also like to add that it was also naptime for me and while I was tired, I didn't doze off once during the screening. If SIL was able to keep a tired Midwesterner awake for the entire movie, then in my opinion that says something about the quality of the movie and that it should be a great success upon its release. No boring storylines, just that common thread among individuals. That definately says something about the quality of the movie. It was the best movie I have seen in a theater since Pulp Fiction.
It was indeed a pleasure.
Pengy
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."
- Walt Disney (1901-1966)
