CIFF - Out of Place: Right on the Money

This film was also in my films to watch. After meeting Vince Labbe at the Akron pre-party and hearing what he had to say about the film, I decided to check it out as a nod to local cinema. Turns out, it's a big nod to documentary film as well.

Ten years in the making, the filmmakers trekked all along the coastline in and around Cleveland to capture the hyper-specific subculture of Lake Erie surfing. Naturally, it's difficult enough to find people surfing on Lake Erie - the very notion makes no sense and sounds like something L. Ron Hubbard contrived. But, the fact that the surfing season on Lake Erie is directly opposite that of a "normal" eastern seaboard beach makes such a project even more grueling and unforgiving. Hence the 10 years.

It also turns out that Labbe is the main focus of this unlikely film. If the Lake Erie surfing culture had the equivalent of a village sage, Vince Labbe's it. Having spoken with Labbe, I can say that the film captured an unadulterated look into the life and times of this phenomenon. The person I spoke with was the same person that came across in the film. Candidly capturing him and some of the scene's other proponents, the film is shot, edited and narrated beautifully.

It will capture audiences not only because of its peculiar topic, but because it is a well assembled gem. Interviews and footage are woven together immaculately, creating a sense of place so vivid that at one point I thought that I was part of the Lake Erie surfing scene.

Surely this film is in the running for some of the festival's awards.

We'll just have to watch and see.

This Film: A-

See you there tonight for Adrift and A Brand New Life.