SXSW Review: ‘The Surfer’ is a Perfect Vehicle for Nicolas Cage That Rises and Falls with Its Protagonist

Sometimes, the idea of something is appealing enough that people will do anything to achieve it. Returning to a place that holds a significant place in a person’s heart can inspire that kind of drive, and feeling as if they’ve almost attained it may make them do whatever they think they need to get to the finish line. The Surfer begins innocently enough with one father in sight of his dream to buy his beachside childhood home, but things soon begin to spiral as he faces constant obstacles and refuses to back down even after he’s lost almost everything. 

The Surfer (Nicolas Cage) is on the phone with his realtor, almost ready to close the deal on his house. In anticipatory celebration, he brings his son (Finn Little) down to the beach to surf, but they’re immediately confronted by the locals, led by Scally (Julian McMahon), who repeat “don’t live here? Don’t surf here” and take the Surfer’s board. Determined to get his board – and his rightful place in this community – back, he sets up shop in the parking lot above the beach, strategizing a way to outsmart the harsh, violent men on the beach and to conjure up the remaining money needed to outbid another prospective buyer. 

This film comes from director Lorcan Finnegan and screenwriter Thomas Martin, influenced heavily by the 1968 Burt Lancaster film The Swimmer. This is a perfect vehicle for Cage if ever there was one (and there certainly have been), allowing him to start the film in a cool and collected state, ready to do something he’s waited so long to do and with nothing in his way. As soon as he and his son are accosted on the beach, that all starts to fade away, but he hangs on, certain that if he can just figure out a way to keep going, everything will fall into place.

That sentiment likely won’t be shared by audience as The Surfer undergoes torment after torment, slowly losing his grip on reality as what could initially be written off as cruel gaslighting soon begins to look a lot more like divine intervention. Though he always has the sun beating down on him and the beautiful ocean in sight, this is a dark experience, one that pushes him to the limits of human suffering, resorting to desperate and certainly unsanitary measures to keep himself alive and conscious long enough to stay in the fight. The fact that it’s always brightly lit and he’s so close to serenity makes his harrowing misery all the more potent and completely unfair since there’s nothing sunny about any of what happens to The Surfer.

This is not Cage’s first rodeo at SXSW, a festival that truly welcomes his signature energy (and the self-described “psychedelic” suit he wore to its premiere). While recent projects like The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and Arcadian have focused on action, this film, which does have a few brutal takedown scenes involving the unfriendly men on the beach, is much more of a character study that examines just how much one person can take before they break. Cage is fully invested and immersed in this character, starting out as a smooth talker who soon finds that no one is listening to what he has to say. It’s an impressive performance, but the film does start to spiral and become less coherent as its main character does. A stronger first half of a film still offers something to chew on as audiences can assess for themselves whether everything The Surfer has done and been through has been worth it.

McMahon, a familiar TV lead from Nip/Tuck and FBI: Most Wanted, is an intriguing foil for The Surfer, so serene in his beachside existence yet wielding a totalitarian sway over his followers. The Surfer’s repeated charges of localism – a real phenomenon in Australia and elsewhere – have validity, and this film’s most lingering message includes a distinct criticism of trying to keep others away from something that shouldn’t be exclusive, especially since you know never who’s going to show up looking to join (or crash) the party. 

Movie Rating: 6/10