In ‘Apocalypse Now’, Robert Duvall’s macho Colonel Kilgore, having launched a blistering attack by helicopter on a coastal village tells one of his surf boy soldiers, ‘If I say it’s safe to surf, it’s safe to surf. Now get out there and surf!’ There’s little hope of that for The Surfer, the nameless character Nicolas Cage plays in the film of the same title.
A wealthy divorcee (Nicolas Cage) returns to the cove with his teenage son where he now has an offer in to buy the house he grew up in and is keen to take his son out on the break. Straight away things begin to go awry when his mortgage broker tells him the price has gone up and added to that is a gang of local surfers who, paraphrasing The League of Gentlemen’s Edward & Tubbs, it’s a local cove for local people or as the surf gang put it, ‘Don’t live her, don’t surf here’. And from there it only gets worse for The Surfer. A lot worse.
But Cage digs his heels in refusing to leave and from hereonin he is systematically stripped of everything. His surf board is stolen, his car is damaged, his phone battery goes flat and a local coffee kiosk owner will only charge it if Cage hands over the watch his father gifted him. He is starving and dehydrated after the water fountain has a split bag of dog faeces dumped over it and it’s the nearest he’s ever been to a Ryanair package holiday.
Pushed to the edge its what Cage does so well – mentally disintegrating into a psychedelic psychosis further haunted by a traumatic event on the beach involving his own late father. Bit by bit he is stripped of everything by the cosplay surf gangsters led by Scally (Julian McMahon) relishing the pain they are inflicting on him. Even the local wildlife seems to mock him and his predicament
This is a terrific film with Cage on form, and McMahon an objectionably odious counterfoil. ‘Before you can surf, you must suffer’ Scally tells him and boy do they make him suffer. Stunningly photographed the single location of the cove is a beautiful cover for an ugly group of testosterone fuelled bullies. Helmed by director Lorcan Finnegan ( whose film ’Vivarium’ also featured a seemingly inescapable hell hole) there are hallucinogenic nods to the Aussie films of the 1970’s notably ‘Walkabout’ (disc review HERE) and ‘Wake in Fright’ as it pushes Cage to the limits of his sanity making this one of the years must see movies.
related feature : ‘Vivarium’ reviewed here
related feature : ‘Cleaner’ action star villain Taz Skylar talks stunts, Daisy Ridley, James Bond & auditions
We chat to director Lorcan Finnegan about the film and working with Nicolas Cage…..
Here’s The Surfer trailer….
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