Thicker Than Water
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Movie Reviews of Thicker Than Water
Movie Review: Good one
Summary: 4 Stars
This DVD is one I think every surfer should see at least once. I will not go as far as saying its one of the best surf movies ever made but in my top 15 list. Great surfing and a hip sound track.Movie Review: Relax
Summary: 4 Stars
This is not a complicated surfing video. It should be viewed with the intention of relaxing while seeing some nice sights and sounds. That's all.Movie Review: Pretty good
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie is pretty good, but none of the locations are given and there is no commentary, just music.Movie Review: Solid
Summary: 3 Stars
I had never heard of Jack Johnson before I came upon his DVD called Thicker Than Water, at a used DVD store, which, if the DVD package was accurate, seemed to be a documentary about sailing around the world. The back cover features robed Buddhists on the bow of a boat, in an exotic sunset. Could this be a Generation X riff on the whole Seven Years In Tibet theme? I did not know, but always one to enjoy offbeat documentaries, I decided to give it a whirl. Was I surprised, or what?
Well, the disk is a documentary, but not of water-centered cultures about the world, nor of existentialism in a Thoreauvian vein admixed with rock music. No, instead it's a surfer film, although not of the sort brought to you by Hollywood airheads. It follows a group of young twentysomething surfers who spent a year and a half in the early part of this decade just bumming around beaches all about the world, and shooting their adventures with an old 16mm camera. It is part home movie, part guerilla filmmaking, part acid trip, part bad garage band, and all in all oddly interesting, if not riveting. There are, of course, some great shots of young studs riding through tubes of water- although very few bikini babes, and a good deal of lite pop music, spiced with a bluesy vein, by Johnson. His tunes are most akin to the music of The White Stripes, albeit a bit mellower, but nothing much really happens in the forty-five minutes of the main film. We see surfing in different locale, hear random voices come on and off and say things banal and observant, but, I guess, not much more can be expected from Johnson, who was a former pro surfer whose career ended after an accident, and has since become an alternative music icon, of sorts.
Don't get me wrong, some of Johnson's music is evocative, and he does seem like a nice enough guy. I just wonder what sort of vanity is behind such an exercise? That said, the camerawork is much better than one might expect from mere amateurs, but what deeper point is there in the whole exercise, apart from a vanity video. There are scenes that a filmmaker with a real vision could have cut together with much more effective music. The documentary- if one can really call it that; it's more of an extended music video, travels from Tahiti to India to Ireland to Australia to Hawaii and to many unnamed ports of call, seems like the first rough cut of a filmmaker trying to find his way, not a finished product.
All in all, this is the sort of DVD to watch if you're a teenager with a little bit too much weed and not enough pals to toke it with, but it is not a film for a serious cineaste, nor even a serious surfer, for the waves within the film are rather paltry. Not that any of that is necessarily a bad thing, but it's certainly not too good of a thing, either. The fact that it could have been more suggests that the boys' youth was to blame. Ah, youth! If you need me to fill in the rest of that observation you will know how I felt watching Thicker Than Water. Okay?
Movie Review: Not bad
Summary: 3 Stars
Compared to other surf films being flooded into the market these days, this is not bad. Music is good, footage is good (note: SHOT ON FILM, not video). It was somewhat hard to figure out where they were. We have clear scenery change, but no indicator to tell us where they really were except for the traditional Irish folk music that obviously indicated they were surfing Ireland. Director's commentary is witty and insightful and gives us perspective that few surf films give us and basically provides a good reason to watch it again -- and again. The version of this DVD I purchased in a local surf shop included a second disc; a CD with the soundtrack from the film. Very nice and a unique marketing and packaging idea. It actually convinced me to purchase the package. More importantly, the music is actually good (I was disappointed, though that the Irish folk music used in the film was not included on the soundtrack CD). But as a film, come on, it's only about 45 minutes long (with special feature bonus material, about an hour). It can't possibly be that difficult to compile film to make it last longer than an hour. Anything less than an hour these days, let's face it, is somewhat of a disappointment. Jack Johnson's involvement added to the film, though. Nicely done, let's just have more of it. I'm glad to have it in my DVD collection, though.