The post mid-day blues had just kicked in so we dumped nine sheckels on John John’s new movie and hoped it would blast us through the rest of the day.
According to John, he’d personally directed a twenty-minute homage to the North Shore just to, “Make something that just gets us amped to surf.” I think by ‘us’ he meant he and his brothers, but maybe he was thinking of his fans too.
Altruistic motives also mingled with JJ’s desire to maintain surfing relevance while he roams the globe on his red-hulled catamaran. According to the pre-press, every dollar made was being donated to Junior Lifeguard programs around O’ahu. If you’ve ever been to the North Shore you will realise how comforting it is know there’s a well-drilled crew looking out for you.
Aside from a few hectic, late-drops at Waimea, ‘Gravity’ is all shot a frisbee toss away from JJF’s front yard at Pipe in the Winter of 2021/2022. Actually some of it is filmed in the front yard and between dizzying surf footage we are briefly treated to scenes of John getting the gang around for a Luau. It’s laid back at home and full throttle in the surf; the contrast between JJF’s two modes is made plainly apparent in his mini-film.
From the outset it’s clear that this is also very much a Florence Family Celebration. In the voice-over we hear the three brothers reflecting wistfully on a humble but idyllic childhood where they would go fishing on a little boat before school and wait eagerly for the scent of the salt-air-mist to blow in, marking the arrival of winter swells. Summers were apparently spent elsewhere. We get a welcome glimpse into the lives of surfing’s most famous modern family, but a full-blown Florence Brothers doco one day would certainly be a treat.
If there are any dramatic revelations in ‘Gravity’ it’s just how good youngest brother Ivan surfs. Well known for his love of the skate park, we witness Ivan owning the tube, soaring above the lip and wrenching through precise turns. Yes, of course charismatic Nathan gets a good cameo too, but he’s no limelight thief here.
Ultimately the film belongs to John John who supplies a feast of cloud-tickler rotations and mind-boggling barrels. Perhaps best of all, are the twenty or so frames dedicated to John’s famous frontside, carve down. Watching John cleave at giant chunks of North shore swell with Ozzy Osbourne blasting through the soundtrack is certainly a pick-me-up worth the price of two coffees.
Alas not of all us have been raised on the North Shore with a roll-up introduction to the world’s most celebrated surfing stage, but ‘Gravity’ will make you want to go surfing. Like John John, Nathan and Ivan, you’ll just have to make do with what’s out front.
