Love staring at the ocean? Dream of dropping everything and chasing waves like the wind? Stop waiting for the “right time.” These are some of the best surf films out there — no filler, just pure salt and soul. Fire up PolBox.TV, hit play, and let the ocean pull you in.
Content
- Chasing Maverick
- Soul Surfer
- The Shallows
- A scene at the Sea
- Point Break
- The Tribes of Palos Verdes
- Nitram
- Surf’s Up
- Priboi
- Oceans
Chasing Mavericks
IMDb: 7.1/10
2012, Biography, Drama, Sport
USA, PG
Director: Curtis Hanson, Michael Apted
Top Cast: Gerard Butler, Jonny Weston, Elisabeth Shue, Abigail Spencer
This inspiring film “Chasing Mavericks” tells the true story of Jay Moriarity, a teenage surf prodigy who discovers that the legendary Mavericks surf break — one of the biggest waves on Earth — is real and not just a local myth.
Determined to ride it, he convinces local surfing legend Frosty Hesson (played by Gerard Butler) to train him. Through intense physical and emotional challenges, Jay learns not just how to ride the wave, but how to live life with courage and heart.
You definitely should watch it, if you are into true stories, you love surfing, the ocean, and stories about perseverance.
Soul Surfer
IMDb: 7.0/10
2011, Biography, Drama, Sport
USA, PG
Director: Sean McNamara
Top Cast: AnnaSophia Robb, Helen Hunt, Dennis Quaid, Carrie Underwood
This is the story of Bethany Hamilton — a talented young surfer with a bright future who’s been connected to the ocean since childhood. But her big dreams are suddenly interrupted when she’s attacked by a shark. After the incident, Bethany loses her left arm. Does that mean her dreams are over?
For many, it would. But Bethany isn’t someone who gives up easily. With the support of her family, friends, and faith in God, she gets back on the board and begins her journey toward returning to professional surfing.
Soul Surfer won’t leave you indifferent — especially if you enjoy movies like The Pursuit of Happyness or The Blind Side. It’s also a great film for family viewing, especially with kids. It touches gently on themes of struggle, hope, and believing in yourself.
The Shallows
IMDb: 6.3/10
2016, Drama, Horror, Thriller
USA, PG-13
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Top Cast: Blake Lively, Óscar Jaenada
If you’re into edge-of-your-seat thrillers, The Shallows should be on your radar — it’s not just tension for the sake of it. It’s one long, brutal standoff: one person, one shark, and the vast ocean between them.
The story centers on Nancy, a young med student who heads to a remote beach in Mexico — the same spot where her late mother used to surf. For her, catching waves isn’t just a sport; it’s something deeper, almost sacred. But the calm doesn’t last long. A great white shark strikes, and the water becomes a trap.
Injured, alone, and stuck on a tiny rock that’s about to disappear with the tide, Nancy has to think fast, stay sharp, and hold on — physically and mentally. Her only company? A wounded seagull. Survival isn’t about winning here — it’s about outlasting. Every moment stretches thin, and every decision cuts close.
A Scene at the Sea
IMDb: 7.5/10
1991, Drama
Japan, Not Rated
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Top Cast: Kuroudo Maki, Hiroko Oshima
A Scene at the Sea isn’t loud, flashy, or urgent — and that’s exactly why it stays with you. It’s a quiet film that doesn’t rush to impress, but instead lets silence do the talking.
The main character, Shigeru, is a deaf garbage collector. One day he stumbles across a broken surfboard tossed aside like trash. No lessons, no background, no one cheering him on — he just decides to learn. His girlfriend, also deaf, watches and supports him quietly, without ever pushing.
What unfolds is less about surfing and more about persistence — slow, stubborn, and deeply personal. There’s no dialogue, no dramatic plot twists. Just long stretches of stillness, soft gestures, and the occasional piece of music guiding the mood. Shigeru isn’t chasing a title or a spotlight — only a feeling. And somehow, that’s more powerful than any big-screen speech.
Point Break
IMDb: 7.3/10
1991, Action, Crime, Thriller
USA, R
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Top Cast: Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, Lori Petty, Gary Busey
Point Break isn’t kidding around — it hooks you right away. What keeps it on your mind isn’t just the action, but tension between its two leads. Johnny Utah is the straight-shooting FBI man played by Keanu Reeves. Patrick Swayze’s Bodhi? He’s the reverse: all instinct, liberty, and risk-taking. They’re not only on opposite sides of the law — they’re dancing around the question: can you ever really be free in a world that exists on rules?
The premise is simple: Utah goes undercover to join a crew of surfers suspected of bank robbery in rubber president masks. But complications ensue when he becomes sucked into their lives — not just the waves and the adrenaline, but the brotherhood they share, the philosophy that guides them.
As Utah delves deeper, obligation and desire start to mix. A job turns into something personal — and dangerous. There are car chases, skydives, shootouts, but underlying all of that is something more subdued: a man looking to figure out who he is, and what life is worth living.
The Tribes of Palos Verdes
IMDb: 5.8/10
2017, Crime, Thriller
USA, R
Directors: Brendan Malloy, Emmett Malloy
Top Cast: Maika Monroe, Jennifer Garner, Cody Fern
Medy and her family move to Palos Verdes, a wealthy coastal city in California where everything looks good on the outside. But inside, things deteriorate in a short time — her mom’s meltdown, her dad ODs, and her brother becomes a junkie. Medy’s stuck in the middle with nowhere to turn.
The only thing that seems to work is the ocean. Surfing isn’t a sport for her so much as it is the one place where everything quiets down, where she can breathe. It’s not a conventional coming-of-age story. It’s about loss, attempting to remain solid, and this strange sort of peace that can be found by launching yourself into the waves.
The Tribes of Palos Verdes isn’t really about surfing — it’s about survival, and the sea just happens to be the only thing that doesn’t lie to her.
Nitram
IMDb: 7.2/10
2021, Biography, Drama, Thriller
Australia, R
Director: Justin Kurzel
Top Cast: Caleb Landry Jones, Judy Davis, Essie Davis, Anthony LaPaglia
Nitram is about an adolescent boy coming of age in suburban Australia in the '90s. He lives with his parents, can’t relate to people, loses his temper too quickly, and just doesn’t quite belong in the world at all. But he’s not a monster or a caricature — he’s lonely, lost, and quietly slipping through the cracks.
The film does not scream. It unfolds in slow motion, almost uncomfortably, showing how a mixture of emotional abandonment, social isolation, and silence can drive a human being to the edge. You know where it is going. You feel it. And yet, you keep watching.
Though the movie never says it, it is about the real Port Arthur massacre — Australia’s deadliest mass shooting. But instead of lingering on the crime itself, Nitram concentrates on the lead-up: the person, not the deed. No sensationalism, no glamorization — just an attempt to show what happens when red flags are ignored.
Is it an excuse? A warning? That’s up to you.
Surf’s Up
IMDb: 6.7/10
2007, Animation, Comedy, Family, Sport
USA, PG
Directors: Ash Brannon, Chris Buck
Top Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, Jon Heder
After Nitram’s somber mood, Surf’s Up is like diving into the deep end of something flippant, dreamlike, and kind of awesome. It’s a story about surfing. and penguins. But not the cutesy kind — the kind that chase waves and trash-talk.
Cody Maverick is a teen rockhopper from Antarctica with big dreams: he aspires to become a surf legend such as his idol, Big Z. And so when he gets the opportunity to surf on the tropical island of Pen Gu, he’s there.
But the island has more in store than just waves. Cody hits some hard lessons — about losing, about friendship, about figuring out who he is when the spotlight fades. Somewhere between wipeouts and new connections, he realizes surfing isn’t about winning. It’s about the ride, the freedom, the feeling that you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be — even if you’re a penguin.
Priboi
IMDb: 6.5/10
2018, Documentary
Russia, PG-13
Director: Konstantin Kokorev
Top Cast: David Dzhalagonia, Kostya Kokorev, Irina Kosobukina
Priboi isn’t really about surfing — at least not in the usual sense. It’s about chasing something bigger. A group of Russian surfers heads out along the wild, remote coastlines of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands, where the waves are cold, the volcanoes smoke in the distance, and silence feels heavier than noise.
They pass through abandoned villages, snow-covered beaches, and places where nature still runs the show. The film doesn’t try to explain much — it just shows. Long, quiet drone shots. Underwater footage. Raw, slowed-down moments where the ocean feels ancient and alive.
Visually, it’s stunning — like someone blended Baraka, Planet Earth, and The Art of Flight, then let the wind do the editing. No drama, no ego — just people, boards, and the rhythm of the water.
Oceans
IMDb: 7.7/10
2009, Documentary
France, G
Directors: Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzaud
Top Cast: Documentary narration
The directors of Oceans didn’t bother with a storyline. Instead, they built a full-on sensory dive into the underwater world — all mood, movement, and music. You’re taken from shallow coastal waters to the black silence of the ocean’s deepest cracks, watching creatures that drift, chase, glow, hunt, and sometimes just float like they’re part of a slow-motion dream.
It moves across every ocean on the planet — from playful dolphin pods to humpback whales singing to each other, to crabs scrapping on shorelines, stingrays gliding over reefs, squids pulsing in the dark, and sharks sliding through it all like ghosts. And then there’s us — humans — clumsy visitors who can either ruin it or figure out how to protect it.
The scale is massive: more than 50 film crews, four years of shooting, 50 locations. Underwater, overhead, on the surface — they captured moments you’d think were animated, but aren’t. Giant whales drifting through deep blue like spaceships. Crabs locked in epic battles on the sand. No CGI. Just real life, somehow more surreal than fiction.
