Riding a Wave of Anguish and Uplift
Riding a Wave of Anguish and Uplift
“Inspiration is like water, brother; it’s always flowing.
You’ve just got to learn to be the water.”
“A Long Road to Tao” 2024
When the actors, assembled on stage, were invited to share their favorite scenes in the film, they spoke of the wind rushing through the leaves of the pecan orchard, the spontaneous sand-dune surfing that shifted afternoon into evening and a sense of despair into triumphant joy. They brought up the churning power of the waves at Mavericks, a surfing location just north of Half Moon Bay, realizing that, while it’s not possible to conquer them, one can learn to go with the flow. And they spoke of that tender scene where a man’s heart had softened to the point of a willingness to bathe his best friend, soon to succumb to AIDS.
I wrote an article about “A Long Road to Tao” before I saw this new film, which premiered at the Las Cruces International Film Festival in New Mexico on April 5th, winning the Audience Choice Award among 80 films chosen for screening, among 500 entries. Many moviegoers exiting the theater had been moved to tears, said screenwriter Michael Allen. Last night, I watched the film during The Beacon Film Festival, hosted by Lighthouse Cinemas in Pacific Grove. I, too, was moved to tears. Maybe even again now, as I think about it.
Much of the movie was filmed along the shore and in the water off the Big Sur Coast, not far from my home. In witnessing the majesty of the familiar setting, I felt comforted, included and, as always, humbled. The story played out through scenes in New Mexico, whose cinematography taught viewers about the character of the landscape and the culture of those who live there, plus the desolation of space and spirit along Route 66.
“The truth is out there. I found it. And in a place I never would have expected. Setting out on my journey, Steinbeck’s quote from ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ stuck in my head: ‘66 is the mother road, the road of flight.’ Somehow there must be truth on this road that will be revealed without my grasping for it,” pondered protagonist “Dayne Thomas,” played by KC Deane, who had yet to understand he was out looking for so much more than he anticipated.
Michael Allen and his best friend were just out of grad school when his friend, a closeted gay man, died of AIDS, launching Allen into writing, “Tao of Surfing: Finding Depth at Low Tide” (1997). In his book, Allen pairs the ebb and flow of the sea as a metaphor for the ancient Chinese philosophy of Tao, which focuses on the flowing rhythms of the universe in harmony with the natural order of life.
Paul Fridlund who, with his wife, Cynthia Fernandes, owns Pilgrim’s Way bookstore in Carmel, met Michael Allen when his book came out more than 25 years ago.
“Our friendship began through the book,” said Fridlund, “and we have sold many copies over the years. When I read ‘Tao of Surfing,’ I found it very heartfelt. His style of writing is so beautiful; it was like reading poetry.”
Although having experienced the story, the loss of his best friend, and having gone through the journey to write his book, Allen admitted that filming the movie was a bit like surfing Mavericks. ”But we never gave up. Ultimately, it was stunning to see it on the big screen,” he said, “and we realized we couldn’t have done this any earlier; it wouldn’t have been the film we have now.”
Throughout the development of “A Long Road to Tao,” director Alex Carig kept thinking about how the context of this film would resonate with today’s world, how the storyline and the filming would reach today’s audience.
“It’s the same story that has happened to many people over many decades in many ways,” he said, “but we wanted to layer the film in a way that would add a dimension, so today’s audience could relate to it.”
After viewers experienced the film Sunday night, and took a moment to sit with our feelings, we were invited to speak with the cast and crew, who had gathered on the stage before us. It was soothing to see “Lance Pearson”—the character who held our hearts with the light in his eyes, a wild card who had come to understand and embrace the principles of Tao before succumbing to AIDS—return to us in the form of actor Jason Bernardo.
Left to right: Actor KC Deane, Actor Jason Bernardo, Screenwriter Michael Allen
Many audience members, as evidenced by their questions, understood the AIDS epidemic, not by having read about it, not merely by having viewed “Longtime Companion” (1989) or “Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt” (1989), about the large-scale AIDS memorial quilt, or “The Normal Heart” (2014), among other films, but by having lived through the crisis, and lost.
As we departed the theater last night, we took with us a sense of the beauty of the film and also who we had become for having experienced it, feeling kinder, calmer, more honest, more hopeful and wondering, as we wandered out into the night, if we had, even for a moment, “become the water.”
Here is a link to access Michael Allen’s book, “Tao of Surfing: Finding Depth at Low Tide.” https://www.iuniverse.com/BookStore/BookDetails/125337-tao-of-surfing
I welcome you to spend a moment with the film trailer to get a sense of it.