Somehow, I missed this. After Mickey Smith’s Dark Side of the Lens blew minds around the world, I spent a few months telling everyone I met that they needed to watch it. But although we posted an interview with Smith back in March, his newest short film passed me by.
Smith’s got a different take on surfing – one that is much more artistic and original than the slew of surf porn flooding the internet. It’s darker, prettier; less palm trees and ukeleles and more real life. Smith’s work resonates more (with me, at least) than nearly any other filmmaker’s. It resonates because it’s not perfect. It’s cold and damp and smells of old neoprene. It’s not clip after clip of smoking barrels behind a palm-laden beach. It’s not trunks and air-reverses. Those films capture surfing. Mickey Smith’s capture the ocean.
And just in case you’ve forgotten, here’s Dark Side of the Lens.
Darkside Of The Lens from mickey smith on Vimeo.
