GTGC - #212 Point Break (1991)

After a brief break, Dalton and Dustin return to break open Kathryn Bigelow’s 90’s action movie classic, Point Break. Classic, you question? Yes, classic we say. It’s a film that pits two of the decades most beloved heartthrobs against each other and has surfing and skydiving. What more could you want?

The conversation gets off to a quick start as Dustin and Dalton argue the merits of the film and it’s direction. The episode then moves into the game—a tribute to the recently departed Bill Paxton. As always though the real business of this show is analysis, and that’s exactly where the conversation moves after the game.

This week we start something a little different. As our typical roundtable of talkers has become something more akin to a duo, we have decided to make things a bit more conversational. Dalton kicks it off by engaging with the obvious gay subtext of Point Break and other films of the era. Dustin then brings in an eco-critical analysis of the film’s juxtaposition of nature and civilization. Dalton and Dustin discuss the spiritual and anti-spiritual relationships the characters have with the ocean and society.

This brings us to one of our favorite discussions: violence in cinema. However, the nuance this week is the way in which the film connects violence to nature. We end our discussion by examining how this relationship is realized formally in both shots and color used by Bigelow to contrast the beach with the city.

Surfs up!