Short Film Review: “Wood Vibrations”

Dir: Gavin Shwahla
USA • Documentary • 7 Mins

Wood Vibrations is a soulful and inspiring documentary following driftwood artist Brian Sienkiewicz (AKA The Driftwood Buddha) as he breathes new life into what others may see as debris and creates a new piece of art for a client whilst reflecting on his own life, considers how a single piece of driftwood connects us all and illustrates that, just like Brian, every piece of driftwood has its own journey - its own story.

There’s plenty of life-affirming and motivational wisdom from Brian, but for all the seriousness and reflective nature of the film, there’s a good amount of humour injected throughout thanks to director Gavin Shwahla’s clever use of editing and keen understanding of not only Brian’s craft and vocation but also his own as a filmmaker.

The documentary doesn’t just follow Brian as an observer, documenting his craft and passion, it is full of interesting and inventive shots that match Brian’s creativity and enthusiasm. This is a documentary fusing two great passions from two dedicated, innovative and gifted artists. The full-circle nature of the two crafts riffing off one another is further highlighted by Brian stating “Each piece pays homage to the forces that created it.”. While he’s talking about driftwood, this clearly also applies to the film itself. The back and forth between Gavin’s filmmaking and Brian’s driftwood art is perfectly balanced, judged and measured, to a point where you almost wish that the recipient of Brian’s latest piece that he’s crafting throughout the film is for the filmmaker, but that’s not be, and possibly for good measure too. Ultimately this is indeed a film about Brian and his journey, just brought to life spectacularly by Gavin’s own craft and vision. 

As Brian works and philosophises, Shwahla effortlessly captures his genuine warmth & approachablity and you can only imagine the fun both filmmaker and driftwood artist must have had collaborating and conjuring up this insanely likeable, uplifting, life-affirming and inspiring documentary.

Wood Vibrations is beautiful to watch and inspiring to listen to. You will never look at a piece of driftwood the same way again.

8/10

Wood Vibrations won Best Documentary at our 2022 film festival.

Reviewed by Philip Pugh