Riding Giants
Director: Stacy Peralta Year: 2004 Size matters, courage is king and what the f*@k do these guys think they’re doing are three things that may swim in your head as you watch this epic documentary. It’s loaded with archival footage that looks like it was rescued from a series of garage sales, with amazing points of view and perspectives on what the culture of surfing has meant and how it is evolving still today. Big wave riding has played a part in many other films – from narrative bombs of the sixties like “Ride the Wild Surf” to the 1991 cult classic “Point Break”. To paddle out into a lineup of salty monsters is cinematic short hand for this dude’s a kook – and a gunslinger all rolled into one. Documentaries about big waves are plentiful, too. But in Riding Giants, Director Stacy Peralta (Dogtown and Z-Boys) puts together the history of waves in a way that shines new light on the cultural significance of those who chose to take on these epic walls of water, the fears th...