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Surfwise
Magnolia Pictures


8.0

based on 20 reviews
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based on 2 votes
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FILM:

Scratch

MPAA RATING: May 9, 2008

Starring Dorian Paskowitz, Juliette Paskowitz, Israel Paskowitz, and Jonathan Paskowitz

Like many American outsider adventurers, Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz set out to realize a utopian dream. Abandoning a successful medical practice, he sought self-fulfillment by taking up the nomadic life of a surfer. But unlike other American searchers like Thoreau or Kerouac, Paskowitz took his wife and nine children along for the ride, all 11 of them living in a 24-foot camper. Together, they lived a life that would be unfathomable to most, but enviable to anyone who ever relinquished their dreams to a straight job. The Paskowitz Family proved that, though America may be running out of frontiers, it hasn't run out of frontiersman. (Magnolia Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Documentary
WRITTEN BY:	Doug Pray
DIRECTED BY:	Doug Pray
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: July 29, 2008 Theatrical: May 9, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	93 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Doug Pray's cool documentary about 85-year-old Dr. Dorian Paskowitz, his wife, and their eight sons and one daughter is about surfing insofar as surfing is the family's shared passion.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

How can a freethinking father mandate his ideals without violating them? Pray covers it all, and movingly so.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Pray has a great story here, but it's much more than just "The Brady Bunch's Endless Summer."

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's a fascinating patchwork.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

As you watch Doc Paskowitz perform for Mr. Pray's camera, it's hard not to judge him harshly. His narcissism seems boundless, even when he cloaks it in self-deprecation.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Doug Pray’s wonderfully engaging look at love and family and the relentless pursuit of happiness, personal meaning and perfect waves.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Pray maintains a steadfastly objective viewpoint, and it's a testament to his film's success that it can accommodate the audience's inevitably shifting allegiances from one family member to the next.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Chalk up another family for Leo Tolstoy and Philip Larkin file: The Paskowitz family is unhappy in its own unique way and mum and dad f**cked them up -- they didn't mean to, but they did.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The movie feels exhaustive in its loaded 90-something minutes, showing and telling us much while leaving the meaning of the tangles and twists in this family open to interpretation. For once, the tip of the iceberg is enough.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

Presents an almost fawning portrait of the doctor-turned-surfer.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

What are we to make of this existence? Doc sees himself a messiah of surfing, clean living and healthy exercise. We might be more inclined to see him as a narcissistic monster, ruling his big family with an iron fist.

Chicago Tribune Sid Smith

The film is a restrained, straightforward report about an iconoclastic family whose pain and dysfunction play out against a backdrop of tumbling ocean waves, muscular surfers and golden sunsets.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White

Filmmaker Pray, who is building an impressive body of documentaries on American subcultures, including the Seattle grunge scene in "Hype," graffiti artists in "Infamy" and truckers in "Big Rig," does an admirable job of allowing his subjects to represent themselves.

Washington Post John Anderson

Insightful, free-roaming but tautly constructed.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

While the archival footage is fun, it's ultimately those bittersweet recollections of his equally energetic wife and adult children that give Surfwise its compelling edge.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Pray unfolds the family's story with patience and skill, making it both a compliment and a complaint to say that he leaves us wanting to know much more.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

What Surfwise reveals is that the dark side of the surfing doctor was that he could be a terrible tyrant, someone whose controlling, self-centered rigidity limited his children in ways large and small as much as it gave them richer lives.

Variety Dennis Harvey

Somewhat forced happy ending aside, the pic holds together well.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Whether you call this a Rousseau-ian paradise or "Capturing the Friedmans" by the Sea will depend on where you stand on hippie living--up to a point.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

The fallout decades later provides the drama in this documentary by Doug Pray (Hype!), who lets his eccentric octogenarian subject off a little too easy.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
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Surfwise Magnolia Pictures

Surfwise
Magnolia Pictures