No matter how bad a day you're having, one of the best things about surfing is its ability to make you forget your troubles and appreciate life and its beauty. If a surf film is able to achieve this through the words and imagery painted on the screen, then it’s deemed a success in my book. The projects by The Moonshine Conspiracy have an uncanny ability to never fail in this manner, and their latest project, A Broke Down Melody, doesn’t disappoint.

The film features the Malloy brothers, Kelly Slater, Jack Johnson, Tom Curren, Rob Machado, C.J. Hobgood, and Gerry Lopez, and follows these surfers as they travel to Jamaica, Indonesia, Tahiti, and Mexico. "The future generation of surfing is going to come from places you least expect it," goes the narrative, and indeed there’s strong emphasis on the local kids, who pick up broken boards left behind by travelers, go surfing on them and have a ball.

The film also includes some incredible bodysurfing segments, getting back to basics and experiencing the ocean's raw energy. Slater is featured towing into a Tahiti wave that's never been surfed before, on a rare and special swell day. Slater's insatiable desire to explore and keep pushing the envelope of the sport is truly inspiring, and well captured here.

A Moonshine Conspiracy film wouldn't be complete without a little Jack Johnson flavor in the mix, and in this film viewers get a double whammy. We all know that Johnson is a pro surfer/videographer turned musician, but this is the first film where he gets out from behind the camera and shows us his surfing skills. In addition, “A Broke Down Melody,” the film's theme song, is a new and unreleased Jack Johnson tune.

Surfing is a gift, and A Broke Down Melody is a gift to us all to help us remember that when we break it down, it’s the simplest things in life that hold the most meaning.

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