Blue Juice, a surf film set in Cornwall, is 30 years old.

First released in 1995, it would probably have been forgotten were it not for its young up-and-coming stars, many of whom went on to ride much bigger waves. This includes most notably, Ewan McGregor, who immediately after Blue Juice, but before Star Wars, played Renton in Trainspotting. Ironically, in Blue Juice he is Dean, a low level drug dealer who, apart from the haircut, is almost exactly the same character. And there are other parallels: Trainspotting, like Blue Juice, was funded by Channel 4, and was a production that trumpeted its regional credentials. The Cornwall-made film is gentle, and more than a bit goofy, by comparison however.

 

 

JC (Sean Pertwee) is a 30 year old surf instructor who lives with his girlfriend Chloe (Catherine Zeta Jones). Chloe wants to grow her business and buy the premises where she runs a cafe, but JC is distracted by his London friends, including Dean, when they come to Cornwall for a holiday. Prioritising his surfing, and his laddy, feckless mates, JC seems immature, and unable to commit to her or her plans.

There are some nice touches, including some quite surreal scenes, such as Shane the spaced-out surfboard maker (Heathcote Williams) - who owns some magical Hawaiian seaweed - levitating (below), and JC and Chloe consulting a prophetic blow-hole near the beach ('the blowhole never lies'). But there are also a few things that are problematic about the film. 

 

 

 

Blue Juice suffers, like many productions set in Cornwall, from some dodgy Cornish accents, especially as heard on Smuggler FM, the fictional radio station (presumably inspired by Pirate FM). The use of locations is also more than a shade irritating. The cafe (below) owned by Chloe is on the quay in Mousehole on the south coast, yet most of the rest of the action happens twenty or thirty miles away on the north coast, in Newquay (Crantock?), St Agnes (Chapelporth and Trevellas), Gwithian and other beaches.

 

 

 

The film is, though, like a time capsule that captures Cornwall at a particular moment. By 1995 rave culture was still important, but it was beginning to fade, partly because the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994 had outlawed unlicensed gatherings of more than 20 people. House music was spawning new genres, such as techno, and drum and bass. In Cornwall Aphex Twin had just had his stint as a DJ at the Bowgie in Crantock and the Shirehorse in St Ives, and in 1992 had released his Selected Ambient Works (1985-1992). This cultural moment is nicely portrayed in an open air rave scene filmed in a quarry (which could have been filmed on St Agnes Head) in which Dean gets beaten up.

There are a couple of scenes filmed in St Ives, at Tregenna Castle Hotel, in Fore Street, and in the old Sunday School in Rose Lane, where there is an evening of Northern Soul attended by music producer Josh (Steven Mackintosh), another of JCs friends, who is accused of desecrating classic 60s soul records by over-sampling them. In 1995, of course, the Tate Gallery had just opened up the road, and St Ives was fast on the way to becoming more gentrified and full of second homes. 

 

 

Though subtle, Blue Juice also captures an important political moment. Thatcher's Conservative government had been pushing for the privatisation of the water industry throughout the 80s, something they finally achieved in 1989. Amazingly, at the time England was the only country in the world to have a fully privatised industry, and as an 'experiment' it is now viewed as having been a monumental failure.

Although the issue of clean water and maritime conservation is not directly addressed, it is a constant presence, thanks to the Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) logos and leisure wear that keep popping up in the film. There is a profusion of brands on display, and whilst the Londoners wear Stüssy and Mambo, most of the locals, including both JC and Chloe (above in a purple sweatshirt), wear SAS clobber, including t-shirts with the original upturned eye logo.

SAS had been formed as a local pressure group in 1990 in St Agnes*, and by 1995 when Blue Juice was released, its brand was competing successfully with other surf wear and leisure wear brands. Though now active more as a maritime conservation charity, with a wider remit and a new logo, Surfers Against Sewage is still active, and still important.

*Steve England told carvemag.com that the film had started to become a reality in 1993, when he and Rob Small, two local surfers, met Carl Prechezer, the director, at Trevaunance, St Agnes. Once filming got underway, the team returned to St Agnes. Sean Pertwee, who played the main character, JC, has said  'the Driftwood Spars became our unofficial HQ' (watergatebay.co.uk).

 

 

For more on Surfers Against Sewage, see interview with Chris Hines https://www.artcornwall.org/interview%20chris%20hines.htm

And Andy Hughes https://www.artcornwall.org/interviews/Andy_Hughes_Dominant_Wave_Theory.htm

18.3.25