In God’s Hands

Zalman King – 1998 – USA

Offhandedly dismissed in its day for its amateur stars and the association of its director with soft-core porn.  “It’s Red Shoe Diaries with surfing instead of sex,” the critics typically said, referring to the characteristic diffused, music-video style seen in Zalman King’s erotic anthology series and the now-camp classic features Two-Moon Junction (1988) and Wild Orchid (1990).  King was no great auteur but he was a versatile filmmaker who enjoyed being able to zero in on his particular interests in his films and certainly found success in doing so.  Tapping into the infectious wanderlust scenario of the archetypal Bruce Brown film The Endless Summer (1966), In God’s Hands presents three traveling surfers passing through exotic locales in pursuit of the greatest waves the ocean has to offer.  As played by real-life surfers Shane Dorian, Matt George and Matty Liu, the trio represent different phases of a surfer’s career; the veteran pro who worries about getting past his prime, the cocky up-and-comer, and the Zen soul surfer (Dorian) who has feet in both worlds and remains uncertain about the merits of fame and fortune. Dorian was one of the big-four of professional surfing in the 1990s, along with Kelly Slater, Rob Machado and Taylor Knox. He is about as strong an actor as King is a director; not likely to dazzle critics but possessed of a casual aplomb anyway that works for this project. His character wanders, ponders and surfs, after all; he’s not called upon to fight, shout, sob, or profess his love to a leading lady. All three characters are a bit more reflective and cosmic in their thinking that their forebears in John Milius’ beloved surfing drama Big Wednesday (1978), a reflection of the sport’s dual nature as a source of temporal rewards and spirituality; a dichotomy that seems to forever torment its devotees as they try to balance their respect for surfing’s purity with the need to earn a living.