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Surfwise Reviews
[A] wonderful, captivating documentary.
| Jan 28, 2020
You can't stop watching, but every fiber of your being is still shouting, "Put the goddamn camera down!"
| Oct 17, 2018
| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 17, 2011
| Original Score: A- | Sep 7, 2011
New Bohemian lifestyle: good, bad, or neutral?
| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 21, 2009
This documentary about a famous family of nomadic surfers is fascinating not only because of the certifiable oddball patriarch, but also because of his endlessly creative offspring.
| Original Score: B | Feb 11, 2009
The fallout decades later provides the drama in this documentary by Doug Pray, who lets his eccentric octogenarian subject off a little too easy.
| Dec 17, 2008
Intriguing family story of the sunny and dark sides of extreme home-schooling by surfing, through a trove of photos, home movies, and reminiscences, but little insight.
| Original Score: 6/10 | Dec 7, 2008
Surfwise will make you hug your parents a little harder the next time you see them.
| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 4, 2008
Provocative but even-handed subculture lifestyle film.
| Original Score: B | Nov 30, 2008
Doug Pray, has made a fascinating look at a man who not only was a great revolutionary, but a pure human being.
| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 17, 2008
Pray's fast-paced editing matches the Paskowitzes' rootless existence, though at times it's difficult to keep track of who's who.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 1, 2008
The most fascinating parts of the movie explore how the Paskowitz children -- who are now in their 30s and 40s -- continue to adjust to a more 'normal' lifestyle.
| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 31, 2008
A provocative documentary about a man who dropped out to follow a dream that gradually evolved into something not unlike a nightmare.
| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 18, 2008
Not just the story of one man's obsessive quest to find harmony on a plank of wood, Surfwise offers a cautionary tale about parenting, homeschooling (camper-schooling, actually), sibling rivalries and family sacrifice.
| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 26, 2008
Surfwise is a graceful, searching film that seems to have missed no opportunity to reveal truths about parents and children and how they come to understand each other.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 20, 2008
The film's director, Doug Pray, has been able to track down each and every Paskowitz child, and he weaves their memories together with old home movies, still photos and news clippings to create an evocative portrait of their lives.
| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 20, 2008
Some documentarians think like essayists, propagandists, abstract painters, or magazine reporters. Doug Pray approaches his documentaries as though he's writing books.
Full Review | Original Score: A- | Jun 19, 2008
The unorthodox upbringing of the Paskowitz clan is the subject of Surfwise, the story of a family who lived on the road, camped at the beachfront and fashioned its own vanguard version of 1960s-'70s alternative lifestyles.
| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 19, 2008