An inside and out review of Inside and Out

Blazing in-the-pocket (if not parked in the barrel) kneeboard surfing, dangerously board-mounted camera angles, and feel-good production work are available for $40 on a DVD from Australian Simon Farrer.

The movie Inside & Out: A Mentawai Adventure, due to the general lack of amazing kneeboard footage, attains groundbreaking status. The modern shredding kneeboarding in the dream-wave chain of the Mentawai's of the feature presentation, paired with futuristic surfing from Australian air-popping, knee-cap-smashing kneeboard prodigies Chayne and Troy Simpson in the bonus section, shows the past, present, and future of kneeriding.Kneeboarding can best be described as unique.

On a hardboard, but not standing up? That's just strange, say most. These surfers don't care and push their equipment and style to the limit. At the peak of kneeboarding performance, no doubt they have respect from the lineup. Everyone brings something great to the table; a crowd favorite may be lone swinfin-wearing Barry Baker, who stalls for the tube by dragging one of his flippers off the edge of his board. It makes one smile—and think about innovative riding techniques—at the same time.

Not annoyingly off-beat or indie, and not too dated to have fun with, the mellow rock soundtrack provides a good background and keeps the vibe positive.

Despite not being shot on excellent film stock, the camera footage is great for the most part. The best may be the dangerously-attained camera-board footage. A bare, bone-cracking aluminum skeleton holding a housing sits at just the right angle on Farrer's board for a great shot. It allows the viewer to see most all of Farrer's movements and weight displacements. The quite telling footage may have instructional value during one cut where a boat shot, layered over a board-cam shot, speaks with instructional value. Weight distribution technique can be seen up close, and the whole ride is shown from afar.

All in all, if you don't need that $40 for lunch, go drop it in Farrer's hand and enjoy some knees-of-steel, spine-contorting riding full of great cutbacks and critical barrel rides.

Its worth it.