South to Sian to Premier in Long Beach, CA - June 30th

If you like bikes, adventure, and surfing this new movie from the people behind Deus Ex Machina should be right in your wheelhouse. Like several other movies I've reviewed recently, this is a road movie about a few guys heading out and looking for adventure.

The difference here is that they are Australian, with a rough and ready customized Land Rover, a pair of old dirt bikes, and a stack of surf boards, and they visit Bali, Sumatra and Indonesia. Here's the trailer:

If you live in Southern California and you are free next Thursday, June 30th at 7pm, you ought to head to Long Beach to see this movie at the Art Theater. Before the movie there is a get-together down the street at BA-Moto. Afterward, the party is at the V Room, so designate a driver or plan on taking a cab home.

If you want to go you'll need to RSVP via email on this Deus Ex Machina page, but there is no ticket price listed anywhere. The Australian premier has a $10 ticket, so best-case scenario is that it is free, worst-case it is still less than a regular movie.

Here is how they describe it: "What began as a three-month trip to a collection of surf breaks off the beaten track turned into a two-year odyssey of exploration, injury, companionship and 4,000km of two-wheeled, single-finned escape from the real-world burdens of modern life. Harrison Roach and Zye Norris pack their bags, a diverse quiver of boards, two bikes and a $50 tent into a 1970s Land Rover and embark on an epic quest from the southern reaches of Bali, through the Indonesian archipelago to Northern Sumatra’s isolated Lagundri Bay. On boards, on bikes, by boat and four-wheel drive, the pair’s journey is to discover if, in these days of GPS and WiFi, the dream of a true pioneering surf adventure is still alive."

. The people involved certainly must be big fans of Bruce Brown's Endless Summer, and On Any Sunday, and if it is nothing but a mash-up of those two movies it should be a nice piece of escapism, and launch another generation of surfers and riders.

Some people make fun of Deus because of how hip they are, but unlike a lot of places that cater to the hip retro scene they go out to events and race their bikes and get them dirty. It is hard to race head-to-head and elbow-to-elbow with people and not respect them afterwards.

So come on out to Long Beach, what else do you have to do at 7pm on a school night?