Lorcan Finnegan’s new Nicolas Cage thriller, The Surfer, premiered at Cannes last spring but it only hit American theater screens on May 1. I love surfing and surfing films and this movie has a retro score, lots of footage of sun-drenched waves crashing on pristine sandy shores and a good dose of water and wax philosophizing about harmony and nature, wind, sun and balance. Like any good surf film, The Surfer delivers the goods, and fans of Endless Summer, Point Break, and Big Wednesday will feel right at home scanning the horizons with Finnegan. Of course, this is also a Nicolas Cage movie, and you might guess that The Surfer’s good vibes are as temporary as the tides.
Finnegan is an Irish filmmaker. His movie Vivarium premiered at Cannes in 2019, and the horror/science fiction film about raising a family in a suburban dystopia was hard to enjoy when it was part of the first wave of films that opted for limited theatrical releases and same-day home streaming in the early days of the pandemic in the spring of 2020. At first blush that film has little in common with The Surfer, but both movies demonstrate Finnegan’s flare for disturbing tones and striking visuals. The Surfer also shares Vivarium’s unexpected turns and themes of deceiving appearances. Thomas Martin’s script manages to pay homage to the surf genre trope of bullies-at-the-beach, while also delivering a story about a middle-aged man trying to bridge the gap between his childhood and his own son whom he’s co-parenting with his ex-wife. Beach Blanket Bingo (1965) is a sandy slap-stick musical with the Rat Pack motorcycle gang providing comic relief. Martin makes the bad guys mean and dangerous, and manages to deliver a tense thriller about masculinity and family, and the moral fabric of society that’s more Peckinpah than Panama Jack.
The Surfer pulls his teenage son out of school for a day to take him surfing at Luna Beach. The unnamed wave-rider grew up on the Australian beach and he’s about to close a deal to buy back his old family home on the cliffs overlooking the water. But when father and son take to the sand, they’re greeted by a band of hostile surfers who threaten them and tell them the beach is for locals only.
I was reminded of the struggles over public spaces we’ve had in Nashville. When The Surfer’s closing on the house becomes a prolonged bidding war he starts living in his luxury Lexus in the parking lot above the beach. There’s a concession stand where The Surfer pays for coffee using his phone. The conversations with his realtor are packed with zeros. Things seem like they might work out until his board gets stolen and a dead car battery finds The Surfer stranded in the parking lot where he befriends another man who is living out of a car.
Finnegan’s film’s flashier flourishes recall the Australian New Wave and director Nicolas Roeg. The Surfer revels in paying homage to movies like Walkabout, with Finnegan using flash-forwards and flashbacks, zooming shots and retro music cues to follow his title character through a personal meltdown. The Surfer should also be added to the New Folk Horror discussion it’s got cults, an alluring natural landscape; and an isolated outsider who seems unable to resist the pull of the place.
Cage is very good here, making measured choices and letting Finnegan’s surreal editing — along with attentive makeup and costume departments — do a lot of the talking for the troubled Surfer. It’s a great collaboration here between the actor, writer and director. A smart, fun, haunted genre gem.
The Surfer is at The Belcourt Theatre
Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.