KC Hill
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Craig Hill
Oracle of Delphi'Bondi Tsunami': Japanese Girls, Surf and Australia
June 19th 2006 12:06
I just watched Rachel Lucas' 2004 film 'Bondi Tsunami' and seriously I don't really know what to make of it. At the level of plot, there's not a lot to explain. 'Bondi Tsunami' is a feature length road movie about the Japanese surfing subculture in Australia. The film is inspired by the young Japanese that come to Australia on working holiday visas, in search of "sun, surf and salvation", as the film's protagonist 'Shark' puts it.
The Shark is a young Japanese surfer, who lives and works as a chef in Bondi, amongst the bohemian Japanese surfing community. Yuto, the Shark's dare devil, hyperactive mate, arrives in Sydney from Tokyo and Shark picks him up from the airport in his vintage EK Holden station wagon, and the two friends embark on a what Japaneselifestylemagazine calls a "whitemans walkabout- a surfing safari up the east coast of Australia, to Surfers Paradise."
Along the way the two lads are joined by Sharks tarty ex-girlfriend Kimiko and 'the Gunga man', A hippy style, Japanese hitch hiker with dreadlocks, who we are told has a deep spiritual affinity with the land and the surf. I found the film's portrayal of Kimiko a little worrying, without any sense of criticism by the film maker, the film treated her as an expendable sex object, who's presence was only valued by the men for its sexual potential or for her ability to rustle up food when needed.
The film's plot though was, in the context of the film, pretty irrelevent. This is because the film is basically a 90 minute video clip that all but dispenses with conventional narrative.
As a result, the film became, in my opinion, a journey through Australian iconography as much as it was also a journey up the east coast of Australia.
As the online reviewer forTriple J explains:
"There is definitely a lot more going on in Bondi Tsunami than meets the eye, but what meets the eye – and ear for that matter - is aggressively constructed and designed. Bondi Tsunami is heightened on every level; it is colourful, camp, kitsch, and embraces the superficial aggressively. It is no more and no less than hyper-playful eye and ear candy, just as the director wanted it. This is a thesis in superficiality, the surfaces of things, and consciously so. Things that are deemed of no value in serious culture – music videos, comics, cut n’ paste pop music, fashion, design – are strategically thrown into this movie mash up, with verve. Lucas is uncompromising in her message: she wants to see just how far she can push the relationship between narrative, meaning and form in one fell swoop and, in one fun movie. (She also trusts that this generation of movie-going audience can handle it). The superficial is her badge of honour, as is the intersection of the iconic between Eastern and Western youth/pop culture. "
I agree with this analysis, the film does offer itself as a celebration of superficiality; of styles, clothes, icons and kitsch. And the film is at times seductive because of this samevobsession ; very slick and easy to watch it's as if the film, like the surf itself, washes over the viewer.
However, when you prioritse form over content, the form has to be damn good, especially when there's ninety minutes of it. This is where I think that the film falls down a bit. Style over substance works in a video clip because it only has to maintain the viewer's concentration for three minutes. Over a much more substantial period there has to be something more than dazzling surfaces and cool digital effects to engage the viewer.
Despite this reservation it's worth checking 'Bondi Tsunami' out if you want a truly original and distincly Australian viewing experience.
The Shark is a young Japanese surfer, who lives and works as a chef in Bondi, amongst the bohemian Japanese surfing community. Yuto, the Shark's dare devil, hyperactive mate, arrives in Sydney from Tokyo and Shark picks him up from the airport in his vintage EK Holden station wagon, and the two friends embark on a what Japaneselifestylemagazine calls a "whitemans walkabout- a surfing safari up the east coast of Australia, to Surfers Paradise."
Along the way the two lads are joined by Sharks tarty ex-girlfriend Kimiko and 'the Gunga man', A hippy style, Japanese hitch hiker with dreadlocks, who we are told has a deep spiritual affinity with the land and the surf. I found the film's portrayal of Kimiko a little worrying, without any sense of criticism by the film maker, the film treated her as an expendable sex object, who's presence was only valued by the men for its sexual potential or for her ability to rustle up food when needed.
The film's plot though was, in the context of the film, pretty irrelevent. This is because the film is basically a 90 minute video clip that all but dispenses with conventional narrative.
As a result, the film became, in my opinion, a journey through Australian iconography as much as it was also a journey up the east coast of Australia.
As the online reviewer forTriple J explains:
"There is definitely a lot more going on in Bondi Tsunami than meets the eye, but what meets the eye – and ear for that matter - is aggressively constructed and designed. Bondi Tsunami is heightened on every level; it is colourful, camp, kitsch, and embraces the superficial aggressively. It is no more and no less than hyper-playful eye and ear candy, just as the director wanted it. This is a thesis in superficiality, the surfaces of things, and consciously so. Things that are deemed of no value in serious culture – music videos, comics, cut n’ paste pop music, fashion, design – are strategically thrown into this movie mash up, with verve. Lucas is uncompromising in her message: she wants to see just how far she can push the relationship between narrative, meaning and form in one fell swoop and, in one fun movie. (She also trusts that this generation of movie-going audience can handle it). The superficial is her badge of honour, as is the intersection of the iconic between Eastern and Western youth/pop culture. "
I agree with this analysis, the film does offer itself as a celebration of superficiality; of styles, clothes, icons and kitsch. And the film is at times seductive because of this samevobsession ; very slick and easy to watch it's as if the film, like the surf itself, washes over the viewer.
However, when you prioritse form over content, the form has to be damn good, especially when there's ninety minutes of it. This is where I think that the film falls down a bit. Style over substance works in a video clip because it only has to maintain the viewer's concentration for three minutes. Over a much more substantial period there has to be something more than dazzling surfaces and cool digital effects to engage the viewer.
Despite this reservation it's worth checking 'Bondi Tsunami' out if you want a truly original and distincly Australian viewing experience.
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