Spoons: A Santa Barbara Story (Daily, 2019): USA

Reviewed by Matheus Clorado. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2019.

© Yater CollectionThe closing night of the 2019 edition of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival started with a series of short features, all of them praising different elements of the local community.

Spoons got the spotlight right after for its world premiere. The Arlington Theater, able to host 2,100 guests, was packed with excited locals and supporters of filmmaking.

The feature’s premise consists of presenting another chapter of surf history. It’s such an imporatant part of it that one may wonder how come it hasn’t been shared in such a long time. Whatever reasons for that might have been, the wait is over and Spoons brings to the big screen archived footage of the most impressive surfers in the world at their best. It not only amuses with beautiful shots and incredible achievements that will rouse even the unfamiliar viewers, but it also documents the speeches of many of those surf stars discussing what they’ve experienced then, from their perspective in present time.

Back in 1959, the Santa Barbara Surf Shop was playing a pivotal role in uniting a community of surfers in this area of the coast. It provided a space for innovation in the creation of new surfboards that would meet the challenges posed by the particular patterns observed in Rincon. Welcoming viewers into what it all meant, Renny Yater and George Greenough are the feature’s central figures, conducting our Santa Barbara Story. The chronological footage matches the interviews just as perfectly as the soundtrack of this feel good and informative movie.

A must see for any surf lover and a lovely introduction for the ones who never dared to go in the tubes.


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