The Most Cinematic Surf Film Since ‘View From A Blue Moon?’

“What a weary time those years were,” wrote the poet Charles Bukowski of youth, “to have the desire and the need to live but not the ability.”

Noah Beschen is a good example of a twentysomething with desire, need, and demigodly ability (with a splash of opportune genes, of course).

The result of filming that sort of energy is one incredibly frenetic, well-rounded, dare I say beautiful piece of surf filmmaking. And if it’s a little overwrought at times, that’s showbiz baby.

“View From A Blue Moon is my favorite surf movie,” Noah told me over the phone, “all of John, Eric [Knutson], and Blake’s [Vincent Kueny] films are an inspiration to me. They are the main videos I grew up watching and liking more than anything else. So for sure John is a massive influence for me.”

Noah told me that the hardest shot to get in the edit was the one you see above in the video thumbnail. He had to attach a rope with a bunch of weights to the board and let it sink, with his filmer holding on and sinking with it. “The board is actually still down there!” Noah laughed.

Who is Noah’s filmer you ask? Why, it’s Andy Woodward, whose tube ride combined with Noah’s raucous encouragement was our most viral Instagram video of the past six months…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Stab Magazine (@stab)

After dropping this opus, what’s next for Noah?

“As far as contests go, there’s three regional events on Oahu, if it winds up being me on the Challenger and then the CT, then sick, I’m going with that. But, I love filmmaking and there’s still so much room in that to grow. I’m kinda just going where the wind blows with films.”

It’s perhaps a testament to surfing’s progression that you have one of the heaviest tow-in slab rides of the year and surfing’s second backside 540 ever done (Albee’s was first) in the same edit by the same surfer. “It’s so crazy that only Kelly and Matt [Meola] have done frontside 540s,” Noah told me, “it’s possible to be doing them consistently, just no one really does ’em.”

Noah continued, “People already have full rotations so down, it doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch to be doing some extra spinning. A frontside 540 and more backside 540s are definitely something I’m trying for.”

Noah and his posse of North Shore royalty represent one of many emerging surf gangs around the world, with their own distinct ethos. 2 Percent has mullets and L.A. Punk, the North Shore crew has chains and Rap, and the Aussie contingent has beer and Metal. “It’s cool that all of these groups are so different than one another,” Noah said, “like Harry Bryant’s movie for example, it’s so sick and so different from our world.”

Have a gander at Noah and Andy’s work. This is a special “Director’s Cut” edition of the film that was not shown in the premieres, with all the music Noah really wanted (it’s not easy to license Tyler, The Creator and The Black Keys).