James Whitehead
No one descends into madness quite like Nicholas Cage and The Surfer utilizes this to great effect, balancing the compelling, with the downright revolting acts of a man driven to madness.
Set against the vast, haunting backdrop of Australia’s beaches, The Surfer tells the story of a businessman, played by Cage, who returns home to his childhood beach town, looking to purchase his old family home so he can take his son surfing.
The psychological thriller kicks into gear when Cage discovers his once idyllic surfing spot has been taken over by an aggressive, territorial surf gang. Cage’s persistence to surf leads him to take on the intimidating group resulting in him being slowly stripped of his dignity and sanity at every step, painfully peeling away at Cage until the harsh Australian heat becomes too much, leading this film to an explosive ending all built on the tension and pressure that you can feel building throughout the film.
The sheer desperation and ego of Cage throughout the course of the film is shown to be a thin veil for the insecurities he feels as a man. We find out he only moved away from this town as a child following the passing of his father and we slowly see the true motivation behind Cage wanting to return and establish himself. His persistent visions of entertaining his family in their new home are a desperate attempt to salvage a broken relationship that is already beyond repair.
Cage holds onto these rose-tinted visions as a motivation to continue his persistence against the gang, forcing himself to lose all constructs of himself and what he should be as a father and a man. The gang on the beach, a boys club built around the idea of men needing sanctuary to blow off steam, works as another reflection of the pressures of manhood and the dangers on toxic masculinity. The films brilliance is its nuance in the issue, there’s no heavy-handed message of men being inherently bad or all masculinity being toxic, instead it shows these dangers as a response to the pressures put upon men. By removing their freedoms and ability to use their masculinity, small, concentrated gangs form as a response, which often becomes even more powerful and scarier, as Cage finds out.
Beyond the purposely hard-to-watch moments, the use of the landscape and setting add even more depth to the film. The Australian heat is felt throughout as a slow pressure that builds and builds. The wildlife, ingeniously used as commentary and mimicry, as if nature laughs at the complexities man creates for himself; there’s so much personality in the background of this film that it lends to the paranoia building in Cages mind. The sanctuary of the cool ocean water always, seemingly just out of reach, an oasis for all of Cage’s dreams and desires.
The Surfer surprised and entertained with its themes of despair and desperation, taming the physical comedy of a crazy Nicholas Cage, focusing his brilliance into a fun watch overall as the third act was tense and entertaining, brilliantly closing storylines in a cathartic and surprisingly uplifting way. I thoroughly enjoyed the thriller and for you Nicholas Cage fans out there, be sure to check out The Surfer whilst it’s playing in cinemas, right now.
