All heroes are tested. But rarely are the feats that made them famous their hardest one. For most, the harrowing challenge comes well after they've conquered man, beast or nature. The day of reckoning arrives when they realize trophies and titles don't reveal the answers to what it is to be man. After returning to a world they've outgrown all that they chased contains little of value next to what they've learned along the way. The result is the toughest of all their tests because it involves turning inward.

Surf stars aren't immune to these issues. They, too, have a tough time coming off the mountain top. Our sport is littered with former greats who've fallen from grace. Rob Machado, however, is not one of them. He's been a class act since day one. Yet in recent years, even Machado has had to shed the ego of his former life in order to make way for a spiritual rebirth---yet all births involve pain.

The annihilation of Rob's former self is the inspiration behind The Drifter, director Taylor Steele's most ambitious project yet. The two friends have known each other since childhood, and their partnership has resulted in tremendous success for both. But five years ago Steele and his wife relocated to Bali where they've settled into a beautiful existence. Machado, meanwhile, remained in California, a place he arguably has outgrown. As a result, his public and private struggles became new challeges.

Rob was due for a soul-searching journey, and it was only natural that Taylor should be the one to capture it.

The Drifter, however, is not a documentary. It strives to be in some parts, and certainly could have been, which is really my only issue with this film. Knowing a bit of the back story here, it's easy to see where Hollywood players got involved, injecting more money, crew, and, well, chiefs into the mix. As the scope of the project grew somewhere along the way an acting role got thrown into the mix. But not the harmless comedic skit stuff we've seen from Rob in the past. The Drifter is supposed to be a heart-tugging drama. The problem here is drama isn't Rob thing, and as a result many of the key moments---moments that we know are based in reality---fall flat as a result. Because Rob plays a fictional character we're shielded from the deeper journey we know he was on.

Luckily, surfing is Rob's thing. And Steele does his best job yet of gathering the kind of stunning imagery that evokes our deep-seeded escapist's fantasies. Rob's refreshing adventures throughout Bali and Sumba are likely to launch a thousand trips. The surfing is much more timeless poetry than high-octane heavily edited climaxing. It's not shot in overcast crumbly beachbreak, but in pure surfing heaven. Machado's elegant form is the perfect fit for the breathtaking dreamscapes on screen. Story issues aside, the whole package adds up to a film I believe has a serious shelf life. If you're a Machado fan (and if you're not shame on you) you're gonna need to see this.








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