Surfwise: The Amazing True Odyssey of the Paskowitz Family (2007)
Consolidated Documentaries

Description

Legendary surfer, Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz, abandoned a successful medical practice to withdraw from the lifestyle of mainstream America. But unlike other American searchers such as Thoreau and Kerouac, Paskowitz took his wife and nine children along for the ride, all eleven of them living in a 24-foot camper. The family spent their days living by Doc's rules on health, fitness, sexuality, and above all surfing. The Paskowitzs' prove that America may be running out of frontiers, but it hasn't run out of frontiersmen.

Tags

Surfing

Collected reviews and ratings

9.2 The Onion A.V. Club | Noel Murray

Pray leaves few aspects of the Paskowitz legend unexplored, or overexplored. There will be no need to ask, "But what about…?" while watching Surfwise.
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9.2 Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

Pray is astute enough to know that, with colorful specimens of an alternative universe like these, sport is the least of what's docu-worthy about his subjects.
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9.0 Amazon user reviews

The cinematography here is great - you feel you are out in the ocean, in the surf, and can see how this aspect of nature would be seductive.
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8.4 DVD Verdict | Kristin Munson

Despite the complications of the differing memories of 11 human beings, Pray does a pretty good job of telling the Paskowitz story.
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8.0 DVD Talk | Brian Orndorf

"Surfwise" is a captivating documentary highlighted by some significant scenes of naked confession and an overall portrait of misplaced intelligence.
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8.0 New York Times | Manohla Dargis

... wonderfully engaging look at love and family and the relentless pursuit of happiness, personal meaning and perfect waves.
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7.5 Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

Remarkably, 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.
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7.0 Variety | Dennis Harvey

Somewhat forced happy ending aside, the pic holds together well. The editorial package is sharp.
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