Sea of Darkness
On Friday night I went to a private screening of the edgy surf doco Sea of Darkness produced by Martin Daly and Robbie Taylor and directed by director/surfer /South African Michael Oblowitz (he’s in pre-production for a horror film with Val Kilmer heading to Vancouver and back in the day directed music videos for Bowie, Clapton and more….)
The screening was held at The Ocean Room tucked behind Sushi Roku on Ocean Boulevard. The chairs were super plush and rocky and only had about seven rows or so. The film opens with Jimi Hendrix playing in Hawaii and connects the Hippie Movement with surfing. Jimi was friends with surfer Mike Hynson. I can’t give away too many details-there are some sensitive topics still being re-edited but let me just say it is filled with pirate soul, addiction and paradise found and lost.
Mike Boyum, G-land discoverer/mystic/macrobiotic food guru is central to the film. He bounces around from island to island, country to country, smuggling drugs. Martin Daly, Indo boat owner/operator/lost treasure finder /SofD producer/co-star was at the screening. He could have been part of the whole drug-running crew but he opted out and focused on deep-sea diving and treasure troving. One of the boats he operates now is Quiksilver’s big Indies Trader that discovers new surf spots and conducts research all over the world (it used to be a drug-smuggling boat). Part of me crushed on some of the guys on the screen. The part of me that remembers when I used to think guys like that were “mysterious.” Now I think they are “addicts.”
The story is about Boyum discovering G-Land and hanging out with friends like Jeff Hakman and Gerry Lopez and other stoney hot-shots (Maui Mafia??-ooh I best watch my fingers and what they type) while simulatenously getting into the drug trade. The drugs caused the Muslim, Indo government to take away Boyum’s beloved G-land camp and he became a refugee-thrown out of Nirvana. He lost it all. The house, the servants, the girls and he subsisted on a macrobiotic diet and mushroom smoothies. He hatched one drug-smuggling plan after another, hooked a bunch of friends into his schemes and ruined all their lives and his own.
One of his friends (Jeff Chitty) is the main storyteller throughout the film. Michael tracked him (camera in hand, of course) to a remote New Zealand town, post-20-year jail stint and got him to talk. He talked. And talked. And talked. About cocaine injested for smuggling, of being on the lam, of prison.
Sea of Darkness is a documentary, not a movie. So the ending is what it is. One talented, beautiful surfer got his face blown off in New York dealing the drugs the other boys smuggled in. Boyum eventually fasted himself to death near Cloud 9. He lasted longer than Jesus. Daly said to me at the English Pub we all went to after Sushi Roku: ”You saw how pretty he (Chitty) was. He went from stealing people’s girlfriend to being people’s girlfriend.” Oh the images that came to mind.
The whole Quiksilver crew/story is woven into the film as well. Back when it was as rootsy as it portrays. Daly sat across from me. Attractive and 52. Kind of like a hot Dick Brewer. He was staying at the Viceroy in Santa Monica before heading back to his gig in the Mentawiis/Indo.
John Milius is interviewed in the film. Chomping on his big cigar like Tim Dorsey, the Big-Wednesday writer/director says that these men did not die god-like deaths. They didn’t go out in a big way. Not like how they lived. He says that in life, it might seem like moral choices don’t matter. That the Universe isn’t paying attention. But that it does matter.
Maybe Sea of Darkness is a story of addiction. Maybe it’s a story of loss and broken hearts. We said our goodbyes and Captain Martin Daly headed back to the Viceroy. He will soon head to his house in Jakarta where Jeff Chitty is waiting for him. Straight outta prison via New Zealand… The Vagabonding goes on.
