Rise Dvd Review » Jethro Lynch's Review

About halfway through Rise, a Geordie voice pipes up to say, “It’s a bit nippy like”. These being the only words spoken throughout, it reflects the surf for the majority of the half hour film. Rise is an independent production from Lewis Arnold and Jesse and Owen Davis. It follows a variety of locals as well as traveling professionals to destinations around Europe and beyond. Most likely, there will be waves you have surfed, waves you have seen, and waves you never knew existed.

Opening with gigantic Thurso, the tone is set for most of the film. Big, heavy, and cold. The locations are Caithness, North Sea, Ireland, Shetlands, Aquitaine, Canaries, Cornwall, Portugal, Cote Basque, Hawaii, Indonesia and Mexico. It is always good to watch waves closer to home. But to see them surfed in epic conditions and by brilliant surfers is very inspiring. The surfing from the Brits is outstanding and a touch of insanity is added by the likes of Taj and Parko.

However aside from the surfing, I also found myself drawn to various other aspects of the film which is not trying to be a large budget, blockbuster surf movie and I feel benefits from it. There is the all acoustic original score by Dylan Johnson. The changing moods of solo guitar make a different and interesting soundtrack. There are lingering shots of a stunning array of land and seascapes; these effortlessly linking the surfing sections together.

The slick fast editing of many surf flicks, as well as the excessive use of close-up, in-your-face shots, often leaves me a bit disinterested. In this format, two cutbacks at different sides of the globe can look exactly the same. A slightly different approach is taken in Rise. The frequent use of 'pulled-back' views give a sense of the surroundings and waves. Also, a comparatively slow pace of editing means the viewer sees many waves from start to finish. These two techniques combined reveal a sense of identity. The unique quality of each spot surfed and each wave ridden is conveyed with competence. Because of this, I found myself watching with undivided attention.

If I had to find one piece of criticism for the film, I personally thought that the last section was a bit unnecessary. The closing few minutes, although joined to the rest of the film with a clever and fitting piece of camera work felt rather disjointed. The deceiving reflection of a perfectly calm Indonesian river introduces the final, exotic, destinations. Perhaps the producers felt a contrast should be made with some world class spots. For truly, the footage of Europe stands up next to the likes of G-land or Waimea. For me, the end section of Rise did not add much to the film in general.

However, do not let this you put you off in the least. The surfing and waves are outstanding. Recently, British surf films have been getting better and better and this is one such film that has raised the bar yet again. For anyone who loves traveling Europe and its multitude of destinations, this film is a must.