Surf Video Review: “Thread”
“Thread” is Patrick Trefz’s second film. It’s difficult for me to tell you that this is a surf picture because I could just as easily say it’s a movie about creative minds that happen to surf, or in one case, skate. It took a moment for me to get what was going on in the movie because I was blind sided by the direction the film seemed to take. The beginning starts off in New York with a bunch of skateboarders barging down the street, shortly followed buy the introduction of a photographer by the name of Michael Halsband, who grew up in the big apple. When I heard his last name I thought it sounded like a brand name of a medium or large format camera made in the Swiss Alps or something. I wasn’t sure what the story was about until Joel Tudor was introduced and the connection between he and Halsband was explained. It was then that I began to see the pattern of the documentation unfold and how the film was tied to surfing.
Of all the many interesting aspects of this story line the part that hit home for me was I the piece on Joe Curren for four reasons:
1) I really enjoy photography.
2) Sand Spit looked F@#!$N fun.
3) I like to go to places were I can get good waves and good pictures.
4) I’m big on drawn out bottom turns.
I related the most with Joe or Simple Joe, as some know him because of the above four reasons. Who knew he was such a good photographer! And even crazier, Art Brewer gave him props for his snaps. I felt (as a viewer) that I was being invited into where Joe and the other subjects live in this film. I felt a bit of a connection with the surfers more so than other surf docs I have seen.
As a fan of surfing I often wonder what else surfers of the professional competence are interested in–aside from surfing–and when I see that they have interests that I can relate to, I get all emotional. I don’t mean emotional in the sense that I am this emo-core, indy-pop-alt-rock kid with eyeliner all over my face, suffering from terminal uniqueness thinking that I should be the next Andy Warhol crying about how no one understand my pain. I mean the kind of emotional you get when you watch Brave Heart or big wave movies… Or, I must admit, the part in that movie with the surf girls at Pipeline (Blue Crush).You know, the part at the end of the movie when she finally drops in on a wave at Pipe and pulls it. I don’t know about y’all but I got choked up. Maybe you can’t relate but that’s how it made me feel.
Thread once again was a good illustration of Trefz’s photography turned motion picture. The film captured the lives and the cultures it set out to document in a classic representation of a vintage look. The surfing is great but seems to focus on a more traditional level than the mind-blowing, crazy three-sixty kick-flip, Fletcher nutso air mack-daddy TEE-A-POOO tow at stuff. However, the Long brothers catch some pretty big ass waves in this representation of surfing. Also if you notice there is not one air in the entire movie. It’s all power surfing. You know…tearing the top off kind.
The one thing that I wasn’t too ecstatic about was the calligraphy used to introduce the subjects and/or the segments. The lettering seemed to undervalue the feel of the movie and disrupted the beauty of the imagery. I would have preferred to see something that was more contemporary of the era the movie depicted. However I did a little research and discovered that the letters that were used were created by this guy who stitched the entire alphabet by hand in the said font, and then Trefz’s crew scanned the letters and used it for their calligraphy. Although I don’t feel the matching of the lettering and the movie was fitting, I do think the process of how the lettering was created is pretty sweet. Luckily his strength in creating eye candy is easily strong enough to brush this insignificant down fall aside and still come out with a whoop-ass film.
Thread is defiantly the type of surf flick that you would watch over a fine merlot and some organic pan seared pea snaps with rosemary potato bread and a sweet onion caramelized cheese. I wouldn’t recommend popping this baby in your Digital Versatile Disc Player while you’re doing the Downward Dog or other Yoga stretches before surfing. Save this gem for the evening.
At the end of the movie I didn’t know whether I wanted to pick up a surfboard or a camera. One side of me wanted to fulfill my need to surf and another side called upon my artistic desire to create. All in all in its entirety the movie was a good time, and like most products made by Germans, is of high quality. I just had a little problem with the font. I would defiantly add this movie to the collection. I’m eager to see what “Zee German” makes next. If you want the movie, hit www.patricktrefz.com and get it there.
January 20th, 2008 at 11:17 am
[...] I’m really feeling the photography of Patrick Trefz. He’s the director of two recent surf culture related films:Thread and Bicycle Trip as well as photog for every surf mag you ever bought. His photos are gorgeous and if he had a “click to buy” button on his print page, I’d have clicked it already. [via The Ryde/blog] [...]