''Bondi Tsunami'' is a 2004 feature length Australian indie film directed by Rachael Lucas, inspired by young Japanese tourists who come to Australia on working holiday visas in search of sun and surf. The film plays as a road movie about Japanese

surfing culture Surf culture includes the people, language, fashion, and lifestyle surrounding the sport of surfing. The history of surfing began with the ancient Polynesians. That initial culture directly influenced modern surfing, which began to flourish and ...

, told through a series of extended montages set to music, interspersed with poetic zen musings. Much of the film's dialogue is in Japanese, with little English spoken despite the Australian setting. The movie was billed as "The first Japanese surfing road movie in Australia." Although unable to secure an official cinema release due to its limited appeal, the film has attracted a

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

based on its controversial style. Two scenes from the ''Bondi Tsunami'' were adapted into separate short films, with ''Beach Route'' winning the 2003 Port Macquarie Short Film Festival and ''Gunja Men Ahead'' in the official selection at the International New York Short Film Festival in 2004.

Director

Rachael Lucas is an Australian director who claims to be at the forefront of the digital guerrilla filmmaking revolution. She is known for her unique visual style and has a background in documentary and music videos. ''Bondi Tsunami'' is Lucas' first feature as a writer/director.

Premise

Shark, a surfer from Japan who is living in Bondi with no apparent direction, expectations or goals decides to join his friend Yuto and set off on a

road trip A road trip, sometimes spelled roadtrip, is a long-distance journey on the road. Typically, road trips are long distances travelled by automobile. History First road trips by automobile The world's first recorded long-distance road trip by t ...

through eastern Australia in a 1961 EK Holden station wagon. As they search for the perfect wave, they meet up with Shark's ex-girlfriend Kimiko, a girl who embodies the Japanese kawaii (or "cute") culture and the mysterious Gunja Man, who claims to be travelling to Nimbin. The four continue their journey stopping at many pubs, smoking large quantities of cannabis and visiting iconic Australian landmarks, including "Big" tourist attractions, The Big Pineapple, Big Merino and

Big Banana The Big Banana is a tourist attraction and amusement park in the city of Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. The grounds of the park are set amongst a banana plantation, featuring a large walk-through banana. Built in 1964, it was one of ...

Cast

The cast of the film includes

Keita Abe Keita or Keïta may refer to: People * Keita (given name) * Keita (surname) History * Keita Dynasty, a ruling lineage of Mali Geography * Keita Department, a region of Niger * Keita, Niger, a town in Keita department Politics * Keita Int ...

as Yuto,

Taki Abe Taki may refer to: People * Princess Taki (died 751), Japanese princess during the Asuka period * Rentarō Taki (1879-1903), Japanese pianist and composer * Michiyo Taki (fl. 1927), Japanese football player * Mohamed Taki Abdoulkarim (1936–19 ...

as Shark,

Nobuhisa Ikeda Nobuhisa (written: 信久, 信尚, 信寿, 暢久, 修久 or 延尚) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese astronomer *, Japanese ''kugyō'' *, Japanese ''daimyō'' *, Japanese ...

as the Gunja Man, and

Miki Sasaki Miki Sasaki (佐々木みき, ''Sasaki Miki'', born 15 December 1976) is a former volleyball player from Japan, who competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, wearing the No. 4 jersey. There she and the Japan women's national team ...

as Kimiko.Bondi Tsunami movie review

Production and marketing

''Bondi Tsunami'' was produced on a microbudget of $150,000, with the funds being sourced from the production team's

credit cards A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...

Lucas's inspiration for the film came about when she stumbled upon a

Subculture A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...

of Japanese surfers who modeled themselves on Australian surf brands. Identifying a potential audience for a movie, but with a limited budget and no studio interest Lucas used guerilla tactics to garner publicity for the project, which attracted media interest through the Seven Network and '' Rolling Stone'' magazine. Shooting took place at various locations throughout New South Wales and Queensland, with most of the beach scenes being shot on the Central Coast, using improvisation in place of a formal script. Large parts of the film have no dialogue at all, while others are narrated through haiku poetry. None of the cast had any acting experience, nor was a professional film crew used. As an independent foreign language film, ''Bondi Tsunami'' was unable to secure a cinema release. Instead, the producers hired a number of theatres around the country and embarked on a national publicity tour. A competition on the film's official website allowed people to vote for the movie to screen in their home town. After receiving the most votes, the town of Cobar was selected for the premiere on 3 September 2004 before the film's official release in Sydney on 23 September.

Reception

The film was received with mixed reactions from reviewers. '' Variety'' magazine reviewer Russell Edwards described ''Bondi Tsunami'' as misguided, aimless and amateurish "sun-bronzed, but lacklustre imitation of the Japanese slacker flicks which regularly unspool at international fests" and was critical of the films production techniques. Megan Spencer of national youth radio network Triple J was more generous in her review, giving the film a rating of 3.5/5, praising it as ambitious and experimental, but noting that its repetitious imagery and style akin to music videos may become tedious to some audiences.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 0439476, Bondi Tsunami
''Bondi Tsunami'' review

Bondi Tsunami at the National Film and Sound Archive
2004 films Australian comedy-drama films Australian road movies 2000s road comedy-drama films 2000s English-language films