“Don’t live here, don’t surf here.” Scally (Julian McMahon)
When the hero of the film has a name in the credits: “The Surfer,” the film is probably going to pursue allegory sooner rather than later. The Surfer starring Nicolas Cage is an everyman tale about buying a modern Australian home overlooking a surfer beach and formerly his growing-up home.
Almost immediately he and his son (Finn Little) are confronted by local surfers wanting no one from the outside to use the beach, albeit public.
The audience can identify with the dilemma: how does Surfer defend himself in front of his son when he is out-manned by the surfers. He puts up a verbal fight, but even then, it’s clear his better judgement should have him vacate as soon as possible. It’s what most of us would do to save our lives rather than die. We are never given the father and son names, supporting the allegory’s universal application.
For as long as Surfer holds on arguing to get his stolen surfboard, small indignities like bartering his father’s watch to get coffee accumulate to support the suspicion that he may already be selling his soul for that home. As he descends toward looking like a homeless person, he also becomes more mentally in disarray. Shades of Walkabout, A Picnic at Hanging Rock, and many Australian New Wave films that link dreams and being an outsider.
The crazy cinematography and over-the-top characters are a pleasure if you don’t require realism. There is no reason to discount the possibility that the story is a product of the hero’s imagination or his crushing obsession with buying the house. Yet, losing his car, cell, and dad’s watch seem all too real to everyday stiffs like me.
As he did in Pig, Cage rises above his characters’ absurdities to point the audiences to his losing grip on worldly possessions and our own sanity while we age out of youth. An enjoyable, small art piece to begin a summer of varied watching.
The Surfer
Director: Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium)
Screenplay: Thomas Martin (White Widow)
Cast: Nicolas Cage (Longlegs)
Rating: R
Length: 1h 40m
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts NPR’s It’s Movie Time and Cinema Classics as well as podcasts Back Talk and Double Take (recently listed by Feedspot as two of the ten best NPR Movie Podcasts) out of WCBE 90.5 FM, Columbus, Ohio. Contact him at JohnDeSando52@gmail.com