(chasing mavericks) Surfing, but the rest of life can really drag a guy down

(chasing mavericks) Surfing, but the rest of life can really drag a guy down

Emerson once advised: "Live in the sunlight, swim in the sea, and drink from the coldness of the wild air." It's a path embraced by suit warriors in "Chasing Mavericks," a surfing film about men, water, and waves, and how and why they sometimes come together beautifully and sometimes collide with terrifying power. The film, directed by Curtis Hanson and Michael Apted, is based on the true story of a Santa Cruz area surfer, Rick Hesson, entertainingly nicknamed Frosty - Welcome to California, folks! Who helped form a legend that day: Jay Moriaretti (Johnny Weston), a boy with a dream and a shattered palette.

What Jay wanted to do was beat the breaking waves known as the Mavericks, the home of killings, crushes, and gorgeous monster waves that rise and crash near the coastal city of Half Moon Bay, 30 miles south of San Francisco. To judge all the big surf movies, YouTube clips, books, blogs, contests, and dollars circulating right now, he was part of the avant-garde. What lures these surfers and Mavericks inspectors are the waves that have become gigantic up to 50 feet high, giants owe their size to long swell, continental shelf, fault lines, reef bottoms, storms, and shallow waters. According to tradition, breaking waves is named after the German Shepherd, Maverick. He'd been following the surfers who frequented the area in the early 1960s, and like them, he hasn't tackled its biggest waves.

This date in "Chasing Mavericks" as a macrame and thankful backdrop to a resolute old school story, through seductive and cornball roles, hovers around a master, a young grasshopper, and the way of the wave. Her hero’s journey spans seven years and begins in 1987 with Frosty (Gerard Butler, with a little-talking cuteness) snatching young Jay (sweet Cooper Timberline) from the ocean after a boy, who loves time waves from the beach, accidentally falls.

Frosty makes a living building, but his identity, his being, is completely covered in surfing. It's who he is, to the gentle panic of his wife, Brenda (Abigail Spencer, looking like hippie Sarah Silverman). Remember that children have responsibilities. Lady Spencer is featured brightly in the role of tacky who is part saint, part trouble.

As its handle suggests, Frosty isn't the warmest rescuer, even though it melts soon enough, due to the boy's yearning. This longing is initially about surfing and provides some of the film's most captivating scenes, including scenes of Jay being thrust in the waves on a board held together with duct tape. Seven years later, the boy was a teenager hanging from the waves and played by Mr. Weston. (His somewhat short blond gaze and a somewhat vacant happy stare may bring flashbacks back to William Cat and that classic from the surfer movies, "Big Wednesday.") Jay lives to surf, although he also works hard at a pizzeria And at home, he leans toward his mother, Kristi (Elizabeth Shaw) who is often bedridden and distressed with attention.

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She is sad, but "Chasing Mavericks" is emphatically optimistic. (It is a co-production of Walden Media, which works for inspiration.) When the movie does, its buoyancy can be infectious and disguised, particularly in surf scenes and in mesmerizing shots of the undulating ocean and waves.

The film captures the incredible quality of this watery landscape, with its steel-blue ripples and the oceanic Freudian feel that evokes it. It invites you to look at this abyss of water, and think about its mysteries, in addition to the secrets of the swimmer whose image puts in brackets for the film and evokes the remark of John F Kennedy: "We are bound by the ocean.

So, keep your eyes on the waves, just like the watermen of "Chasing Mavericks," whose numbers include surfers Greg Long, Peter Mel, and Zach Wormhoudt, who attend briefly to add authenticity and real splendor. Surfers and surfers, along with the natural beauty of the California coast, help balance vulnerable areas in the film, including the unfortunate one-dimensional protagonist. (Mr. Aptied took the last 15 days of filming after Mr. Hanson left the production for health reasons, which may help explain the film's disparity.)

When he's not into surfing, the imaginative Jay tends to pull the story down, whether he's smiling softly at Frosty, the ocean, or one of the women in his life. It almost drowned out the story that the real Jay Moriaretti got into a legend.

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"Chasing Mavericks" has been rated PG (suggested parental guidance). Kids may want to move to California to become surfers.