Riding Giants

While not quite as exuberant as his previous feature documentary, DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS, skater-turned-filmmaker Stacy Peralta brings the same level of respect and enthusiasm to the subject of surfing. After a lighting-fast, whiplash inducing introductory montage — 1000 years of surfing history in just under two minutes — Peralta gets down to the subject at hand: Big wave surfing, the roots of which Peralta and the legion of legendary surfers he interviews trace back to the unspoiled beaches of 1950s Hawaii. For a troupe of intrepid daredevils — mainland Americans, mostly — surfing was not just a sport, but an entire way of life. Forever pushing the boundaries of what w...