First Love (2010)

Simply Perfect

Pretty Good

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Hi All,I rarely ever write reviews, but since I noticed there is only one here at the time of this writing, I figured I should step up to the plate. Or maybe a more appropriate metaphor would be charge the wave. It's a good film. The personalities and surfing skills of the characters, the way the film was put together and the dedication of the filmmakers made this film endearing. And let's not forget that it's about surfing, which is the most cinematic sport on the planet! I would recommend this film to anyone who loves surfing...Job well done ladies. I salute your spirit...

First Love is about love, friendship and following your dreams. I had the pleasure of attending a screening for this today and I was so impressed with myself and Brookie for making it - we had less than 1hrs sleep last night and were so hungover it was criminal. I am quite annoyed with myself though as the three leads were there and I was offered the opportunity to meet them after the screening but felt so horrible I couldn't do it - really wish I did now as these three girls will one day soon be world champions and besides that - they were so much bloody fun in the film I would love to spend time with them.This feature length film of only 1hr follows the lives of three passionate young girls from Phillip Island and documents their trip to Hawaii - the first step on their journey to making a career out of surfing. The girls enjoy and love everything they do and watching it through the eyes of these three is hysterical and just a shiny world of joy, fun and passion for a sport they are all amazing at.17-year-old Jess Laing has grown up surfing with, and competing against, her two friends Nikki van Dijk and India Payne. They're all sponsored, surf the same breaks and live within 10 minutes of each other. The girls are all different in their own ways, but one thing's for sure, they all love the same thing.But when Jess is injured everything changes. Her trip to Hawaii is replaced with surgery, recovery and rehab. It's only her love of surfing that pulls her through. I truly feel sorry for Jess, and not just for the injury and recovery she went through but because she is probably the only female in the world of surfing with brown hair. Besides Jess everyone has blonde sun bleached hair Discover the trials and tribulations of training, competitions and injury whilst gaining an insight into life on the tour through the eyes of three girls. With magic footage and stellar photography, First Love will surprise, entertain and inspire a generation of female surfers.This film really gets into the spirit of the surfing circuit and it was amazing to see the camaraderie of the women's competitors - these women fight each other like Gladiators on their boards during the day and then at night hang out, cook BBQs, go shopping and party together. They are nothing like the men. It is also similar with their surfing - I find it more like watching women's tennis - not as hard hitting but more graceful, fluid and technical. The film also captures the heart and spirituality of surfing - it is a religious movement of sorts and it is a religion of pagans - the followers are all at one with nature - they reach a harmony with the earth's force to glide over it's sets of pristine waves. The film shows this well.I have grown up my entire life on the Northern Beaches of NSW - I spend oodles of time at the beach and have always had boards at my house but never actually surfed - this actually inspires me - these girls make it look bloody easy. Perhaps 2011 can be the year I do my Manly Surf School.The film has been going really well overseas having just won the Best Documentary at X- Dance film festival. XDance is basically the Sundance Sport film festival. Director Claire Gorman also took out the Emerging Film Maker award. Nice work guys - I think Claire has some amazing direction and the story told in the docco is very engaging - the girls are very lovable and exude this positive vibe that is extremely contagious. The film has some spectacular cinematography from Claire Gorman, a Phillip Island local. The copy of the film we watched was quite pixelated in many scenes - I am wondering if we got a lower resolution copy of the film for the screening or if the projector was not set up to screen it correctly. The photos on the site are all high resolution so am hoping the release of the film will be in a better presented format.Another character in this film that really stands out is the amazing music - it is so beach scene it worked a treat. And I did not know one single band or artist and the film makers instead used all relative unknowns. There are songs by Dan Flynn, Matt Walters, Dash and Will, Big Scary, Tom Richardson, Justin Carter, Ghost Mutt, The Smoke, Dardanelles, Liz Cogger, Seth Sentry and HEAPS MORE. The soundtrack will soon be out on Itunes. Worth the buy!Great docco!