Aug 29, 2003 By Lou Gaul 3 min read

At age 43, Dana Brown is still searching for the perfect wave. It’s a quest the middle-age wave-rider-turned-filmmaker finds energizing rather than frustrating and which he chronicles in the surfing documentary “Step Into Liquid.”

According to Brown, surfing seems to provide people with a positive psychological lift, particularly during these troubled political times of an international war and economic uncertainty. That idea makes the unrated film what could be termed an experiment in immersion therapy.

“There’s something simple about surfing,” Brown said at his Philadelphia hotel during a publicity stop for “Step Into Liquid,” now playing at the Ritz at the Bourse in Philadelphia, the Strand 5 in Ocean City and the Beach Haven Park 4 in Beach Haven. “It’s the way the wave pushes you and how you interact with nature.

“There’s something very primal about it, and the more complicated things get in life, the more comforting surfing becomes. The ocean teaches you humility.”

Brown, the son of documentary legend Bruce Brown who captured the world of surfers in “The Endless Summer” (1966) and its sequel, “The Endless Summer 2” (1994), makes his filmmaking debut with “Step Into Liquid.” In his eyes, the waves are as important as the people who ride them, and Brown provides some exquisite images of surfers in places such as Hawaii, Costa Rica, Tahiti and Australia.

Throughout “Step Into Liquid,” those being interviewed mention that the only competition in surfing is between the surfer and the wave. Brown believes that concept increases its appeal in these intense times of competition in so many aspects of our heavily stressed lives.

“By its nature, surfing doesn’t have an opponent, because there’s no way you can beat the ocean,” Brown observed. “The ocean just lets you play, and surfers have to maintain humility about what they do.” Due to the influence of his famous father, with whom he worked as an editor and producer on “The Endless Summer 2,” Brown has been a lifelong surfer and nature lover.

“I’ve been surfing since before I can remember,” said Brown, who’s next considering shooting a documentary on an off-road race. “By age 5, I remember always being near the shore, which was so much a part of my life.”

And how did the idea for “Step Into Liquid” develop?

“I believe in the metaphor my dad was getting at,” said Brown, who’s married and has two daughters. “With the right attitude about surfing and a spirit of adventure, it’s always summer. “I wanted to capture why that’s so true.” During an interview, Brown registers as laid-back, until discussing the subject of “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” (1982) and Sean Penn’s performance as stoned surfer-dude Jeff Spicoli. Although released more than two decades ago, the negative image Penn created of surfers still remains on the minds of many Americans.

“Penn’s Spicoli character made a lot of us not talk about surfing or admit that we did outside of a circle of friends,” Brown said. “There was a stigma, and saying you were a surfer was like admitting you were immature or would fail a drug test. A lot of that negative imagery has faded, but for a long time, that ‘dumb’ image just stuck and took away from what good athletes surfers are.”