Hana Surf Girls (Russ Spencer, 2010): USA

Reviewed by Lava Farmer.  Viewed at Santa Barbara Film Festival.

Director Russ Spencer gives us a look at the unique and exciting lives of two local Hana girls in his documentary, Hana Surf Girls.  We are first introduced to the gorgeous east coast of Maui and the isolated town of Hana.  Here we meet few of the local surf groms, including Monyca Byrne-Wickey.  Monyca is a 17 year old Hana surf girl who rips it up everyday.  With high school graduation right on the horizon, she is forced to make decisions about how she will carry out her future.  Meanwhile, her best friend Lipoa Kahaleuahi is going through struggles of her own while being a freshman at UCSB.  Lipoa is also a Hana surf girl and feels concerned for the home she left behind and wary of the new one she now found herself in.

Through the use of cross-cutting and parallel editing, Spencer juxtaposes the peaceful and magnificent landscape of Hana with the crowded and bustling streets of Isla Vista and UCSB.  One shot shows us the annual Hana Surfing Games which is a fun filled family style surfing event, which is then paralleled by the sickening scene of the crowds of people who cover the coastline for Isla Vista Floatopia.  This is a key illustration of the difference between the two worlds.  Simultaneously however, cross-cutting of Monyca surfing in Maui and Lipoa surfing in California creates a visual feeling of comradery between the two characters.

The narration throughout the film was actually done by Monyca and Lipoa themselves, giving it a really fun and intimate feel.  They said that through collaborating with Spencer via interviews they were able to come up with a script very easily.  When Spencer started out making the film not even he was sure what it was going to be about.  Therefore, he let the story unfold naturally and tell itself.

Spencer’s timing was impeccable.  He was able to jump in at just the perfect time to capture this monumental period in two young women’s lives.  Thanks to the support of their families and the Hana community the girls face their challenges and overcome them with grace and optimism about the future.  Montages of the breathtaking Hana and the loving people that it is home to reveal the importance of family and a strong and supportive community.  The film shows us how every event in Hana is a family event and everyday in Hana is full of pure fun-loving activities.  The Hana lifestyle is definitely one to be envied, but it teaches us to have pride in where we come from and never forget who got us here.

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Published:
02.20.10 / 4pm
Category:
Films, Santa Barbara Film Festival 2010