Watch: An Exercise In Awakening Your Inner Beast

In recent years, a growing chorus of voices has emerged, lamenting the softening of men. Some blame it on an overconsumption of soy based products, a lack of raw meat, and a decline in testosterone — the culprits being the encroaching left and the rise of plant-based diets. We’ve lost our primal instinct, and the call to arms is clear: we must do whatever it takes to reclaim our sacred masculinity. Hunt with a knife, take up Brazilian jiu jitsu, inject some creatine, and become the men society is desperate for.

Frenchman Kyllian Guerin and filmmaker Gabriel Boin offer a different take on the notion that society has cut us off from our roots. As the description of their new film puts it: “The Hunter is an adventure that seeks to reclaim the animal instinct dormant within us, chasing swells blindly along the South African coasts, driven solely by the possibility of finding the perfect wave.” In other words, if you want to tap into your primal self, go surfing. 

The film brings a high-budget cinematic flair, punctuated by a series of poetic quotes from the narrator, who we imagine to be a sage, weathered old man, dispensing wisdom on life, surfing, and the meaning of it all. In reality, though, it’s an impressively accurate AI copy, but even so, it’s hard not to be charmed by the programmed existential musings.

You might remember Kyllian from our last rendition of Stab Highway, where his team, to put it bluntly, got axed for partying too hard, enjoying life, not giving a damn about stacking points, and basically just being too French. The Hunter, however, is a full 16 and a half minutes, giving you the chance to witness the full scope of Kyllian’s arsenal at various right-hand points along the West African coast — also festuring the gifted Jordy Maree.

Well worth your time.