Longer
According to Leonard Liebowitz of NYU?s New School of Film , "Jack McCoy?s Green Iguana-era productions were so tight you could bounce quarters off them; Taylor Steele played to the cheap seats, resulting in Himalayan gross returns; Andrew Kidman?s Litmus articulated the scruffy sophisto of the surfing hobo; Thomas Campbell?s The Seedling came smoking out of the gate with the most distinctive visual thumbprint of the decade. Yet it was j brother?s 1995 ultra-short longboard flick, a drift, that quietly influenced the face of surf cinema-perhaps more than any other single title of the 1990s. "Hey, who am I to argue?" Especially with a Cahiers du Cinema review by Ethan Coen laying down the following: "Longer, a new American surf movie (focusing on a certain Joel Tudor) is the vision of a masterful new eye. The poignancy of de Sica?s The Bicycle Thief echoes in his scoring of the opening segment with Getz/Gilberto?s ?Desafinado.? As you know, ?desafinado? translates from the Portugese to ?out of tune.? It is clear that this Joel Tudor is surfing ?out of tune? as he keeps prancing up and down his surfing board to maintain equilibrium. The use of Errol Gardner?s ?Misty? further cements my thesis; it is clear that Joel is in a mournful state over the loss of a lover, as seen in the recondite but ultimately impenetrable transitions." Well, touch?, D?Artagnon. I?d add my two cents by saying that you?d be hard pressed to find someone with a keener sense of surfing subtleties than j brother, particularly when it comes to his pal, Tudor. Longer captures Mr. T on discs, eggs, guns, and tanks at spots around the globe. The footage, gathered over several years, offers a unique look at joel?s growth as a surfer and his choice of equipment and the wave quality have not been seen like this before. All the usual suspects will enjoy this true-to-form follow-up of a drift. -Scott Hulet Surfer?s Journal
