TheNicolas Cage-aissance that started in 2021 withPigdoesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Directed by filmmaker Lorcan Finnegan,The Surferplaces Mr. Cage in the role of a father who wants to buy his childhood home and surf with his son. This idealistic vision quickly turns into a nightmare as the titular character is not only blocked from accessing the beach by a group of young locals headed by internet guru Scott Callahan (played by Julian McMahon), but also perpetually bullied, stalked, and tormented by them.
With the fictional Luna Bay in the background, the cat and mouse game that plays out leads to Cage’s character literally having nothing to his name. No surfboard (which gets stolen), ring (which gets traded for a phone call), watch (which gets exchanged for a coffee), phone (loses battery), and no car (gets taken by the rowdy locals during the night). That is certainly one way to deconstruct a character.
But the downward spiral doesn’t stop there.Cage’s otherwise idyllic character quickly becomes trapped by his own obsession. At any point during this hellish excursion, he could have easily admitted defeat and walked away. That route of action would also have meant him giving up on what he thinks is the answer to all of his problems — owning a house on Clifftop Drive. Unable to leave, he makes a stand in the Luna Bay parking lot, ultimately breaking down along the way. This very decision is what makes this film agreat psychological thriller.
The Surfer is introduced in this film as one who is vastly disconnected from the more raw aspects of what life is all about. He initially drives here with his son in a luxury car, talks to brokers and lenders like it’s no big deal, and carries a Rolex watch on his wrist, even when attempting to ride out in the waves (that sole decision is the perfect example of rich carelessness). Hidden behind these symbolic tokens of a finer life, though, is a man who is falling apart.
The Surfer’s Worst Enemy Might Just Be the Setting
The Surfer
Played by actor Finn Little — and given the moniker of The Kid — The Surfer’s son is seen to beemotionally drifting away from his father. Not only that, but his ex-wife is now pregnant by another man, which he doesn’t take kindly. As you can see,The Surfer’s first lesson is all about material possessions being worth next to nothing when it comes to true happiness. Even though we see this, the main character chooses not to accept this and becomes infatuated with yet another thing he can (attempt to) purchase to bandage the ever-growing wound: his past.
But what he usually obtains with money has now been relegated to a challenge, one of which he will not leave, no matter how insufferable the situation becomes. Moviegoers only become more entranced because Nicolas Cage’s acting during these bouts of humiliation is mesmerizing and, well, disturbing.
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The locals present themselves as an animalistic bunch who will stop at nothing in undoing the Surfer’s sanity. This is true. But, the small and isolated parking lot itself (where the main character chooses to reside) surprisingly becomes a non-speaking antagonist. The grueling and hazy locale presents The Surfer with many trials by combat. To get any closer to his goal (and towards reclaiming his surfboard, the biggest symbolic token of his past after all),hunger and thirst come to evade him. Animals want to kill him. The heat and humidity sent him into a stupor. There are walking and talking human beings in The Surfer who are in conflict with each other on the surface, but the underlyingman-versus-nature aspecthelps to carry the film to a new thematic plateau.
Bringing One’s Inner Conflict to Life in ‘The Surfer’
He is hunted by a snake while hiding from human assailants. He gets bitten by a rat (which he later considers eating) and drinks brown-colored water (from a restroom sink and a street pothole).This kind of prison-like tortureis what The Surfer readily goes through to stave off his life’s imbalance. Furthermore, the structure of this movie is even more interesting to look at. Just being in this one place — thrown from here to there by life’s dangers — The Surfer still has a bird’s eye view of the dream that’s far away and the reality that’s currently at hand. As brutal and unadorned as a parking lot is, the space is but a creative pathway to different destinations.
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This challenging space is shown to have two roads. We’re never shown a clear exit. Cinematographer Radek Ladczuk knows how to manipulate angles to complementthe story’s suspense. One is a long-winding, stairway-filled path to Clifftop Drive, which our main character cannot embark on in the mental haze he’s in now. The other is a painful ritual where the water and waves are not only his congratulatory trophy, but what he spiritually needs to help him break free of his current guilt.
With a 103-minute runtime,this inner conflicttemporarily traps The Surfer in a seaside prison that is filled with violent beach bums, traumatizing memories, and some really gnarly revelations. If you want to see the latest Nicolas Cage film for yourself,The Surferis currently playing in select theaters nationwide.
