"Blue Horizon" follows professional surfers Andy Irons of Kauai, above, and Dave "Rasta" Rastovich of New Zealand.
‘Blue Horizon’ leads McCoy
back to big screen
There used to be a time, about a generation ago, when the movie house or local auditorium was the only place to go to catch the latest surf flick in those spare moments between surf sessions. But then came the straight-to-video onslaught of films -- the ones with about an hour's worth of disconnected footage and zero narrative, seemingly laced with the same high-octane music track on loop from start to finish -- to feed the frenzied appetites of Generation X surfers.
To bring back the big-screen surf-movie experience, Jack McCoy -- recognized by many as the world's premier surf filmmaker and now in his fourth decade of making films -- has released "Blue Horizon." It is his 24th film, and as he has done for all of its screenings, it will be shown theater-style in Hawaii starting Thursday at the Blaisdell Concert Hall.
The screenings
Oahu
Thursday: Blaisdell Concert Hall, 8 p.m.
Friday: Blaisdell Concert Hall, 8 p.m.
Saturday: Waialua Community Association, 7 and 9 p.m.
Tickets: $8 in advance at all Hawaiian Island Creations, Town & Country and Local Motion surf shops; $10 at the door
Big Island
Next Tuesday: Kamuela Kahilu Theater, 7:30 p.m.
July 7: Palace Theater, 7:30 p.m.
July 8: Aloha Theatre Kainaliu, 6 and 8 p.m.
Tickets: $8 in advance at Big Island Surf and Orchid Land surf shops; $10 at the door
Maui
July 9: Maui Arts & Cultural Center, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $10 in advance at Hi-Tech surf shop; $12 at the door
Kauai
July 10: Aloha Beach Resort, 6 and 8 p.m.
July 11: Kilauea Theatre, 6 and 8 p.m.
July 12: Waimea Theatre, 6 and 8 p.m.
Tickets: $8 in advance at Deja Vu, M. Miura's and Hanalei Surf Co. surf shops; $10 at the door
"It was about two years ago that I decided I wanted to get back on the road and show surf movies on the big screen in theaters full of people who shared the same thoughts and the same vibe," said McCoy, in a recent interview with Surfer magazine. "I didn't really know how it was going to go, but I put my own money into the tour and found different people to help support it. We toured all around Australia, but we only did 18 venues. We just wanted to get our feet wet and to see if we could get people to come and see surf movies again. It turned out to be an overwhelming success."
The son of '60s and '70s Hawaii radio personality Jack McCoy Sr., McCoy grew up on Oahu before moving to Australia, where he still resides. He got the inspiration for his career after seeing the Hawaii premier of Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman's "Free and Easy" at Roosevelt High School Auditorium in 1967.
Coming on the heels of the major-motion-picture success of Dana Brown's "Step Into Liquid" last year, McCoy's 2004 tour for "Blue Horizon" includes small coastal towns and major cities in the United States, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
The documentary-style film follows two surfers, Andy Irons and Dave "Rasta" Rastovich, in their very distinct paths as professional surfers. Having no real clue when he first began filming two years ago, McCoy struck gold with his choice of Irons, as the Kauai surfer goes from richly talented yet unfocused on the international contest circuit, to becoming a competitive beast and back-to-back world champion in 2002-03. To Irons' fire, McCoy juxtaposes Rasta's soulful cool as the anti-competitor, a New Zealander who gets paid simply to surf as much as he can in exotic locales of his choosing.
THE FILM IS packed with tightly woven action and accompanied by beats that strike the visceral cord for surfer and non-surfer alike, the one that generates the oohs and aahs and makes the edge of the theater chair the only place to sit. But it's McCoy's choice to carve through emotion and also generate thought in his mission, to show the history, culture and current state of surfing, that distinguishes "Blue Horizon" as a film truly fit for the big screen.
McCoy shows Irons winning his first title in 2002, and then having to face the pressure of defending the championship the following year against the most successful competitive surfer ever, Kelly Slater, while also dealing with the barrage of media and fan attention and people turning and rooting against him because he is no longer the underdog. Yet, Irons succeeds. He wins more than anyone else, including his former idol and current rival, Slater, and seems well on his way to fulfill his fervent desire to show everyone "it's my turn now," and "to make as much money as I can in the next five years."
And then there's Rasta. Once a very successful junior competitor in swimming and surfing, he's now completely unconcerned with winning at anything. Where the Irons' segments speed your heartbeat, Rasta's steady the pulse, make you smile and even chuckle. He's the one who says things like, "You need to know your history. To know where you are going you need to know where you've been." The one who meditates rather than plots, and compares his varied quiver of surfboards to musical instruments: "No one is better than the other; they all have different grooves."
With their contrasting personalities and separate paths, McCoy communicates that both Irons and Rasta still represent surfing and surfers -- past, present and future. Bliss from the perfect wave may be the common goal, but the characters who share it are a motley crew growing in numbers and styles every day.
With "Blue Horizon," McCoy's aim is not to bash surf videos; like anyone who's used them to get pumped before a session, he also admits they serve a purpose. But he does successfully show that a surf film can still be made for the big screen, and that some, especially, belong there.
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