Australian apparel brand Globe has never enjoyed top-tier industry status like behemoths Quiksilver, Billabong, Rip Curl, O’Neill, Volcom, et al. But Globe has a visual resume that no other brand can match: a long string of epochal films created by mad genius Joe G. And if you thought Secret Machine and New Emissions Of Light & Sound were conceptual, well, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet, because the 8mm and 16mm-heavy Year 0000 makes those earlier Globe efforts look like quick-hit clips. Patterned on an apocalyptic vision of 2012 as the proverbial year zero, this film envisions a dusty, desert-caked wasteland onto which CJ and Damien Hobgood, Dion Agius, Taj Burrow, Nate Tyler, and Yadin Nicol stumble after the rest of humanity has perished.
Before we get a look at those surfers, though, Year 0000 forces us to sit through nearly 15 minutes of discombobulated sepia-toned abstractions. Scott Soens’ cinematography is stunning, though, and behind it rests the throbbing strains of the soundtrack, curated exclusively for the film by kick-ass Canadian stoner-rock band Black Mountain. From a musical point of view, this tour de force of both new material and past Black Mountain gems might represent the biggest coup yet for a modern surf movie — I can’t be the only one who’s glad we’re not stuck on an electro repeat of Secret Machine. And oh yeah, the surfing: things start in slo-mo before speeding up to the strains of “Bright Lights,” with our humble cast hucking impossible airs, wafting ridiculous amounts of tail, and flying through barrels of intense consequence.
There’s no use in dissecting the bevy of jaw-dropping sections, although I will admit that Yadin and CJ’s full-rotation frontside alley-oop 360s, a man-eating French sand slab, and the Hobgoods’ mid-film left-point shred sesh are particularly delectable. But let’s be honest: you’re not watching Year 0000 strictly for the clips. You’re watching this statement of artistic intent for the psychedelic spaghetti Western voiceovers. The hallucinatory segues. The stunning female supporting cast. The muscle car and motorcycle chases. Watching this film feels like what the early ‘70s hippies must have felt upon watching Evolution or Morning Of The Earth for the first time — revolutionary shit indeed. And the fact that an apparel company — not even one of the top five, either — would fork over what must have been the massive budget to pull this blockbuster off… Well, nothing could be better for the surf-film industry. Here’s hoping Year 0000 inspires many imitators. By Nick McGregor