Nicolas Cage stars as a business man who brings his son to an Australian beach to surf. They are kicked out by an aggressive group of locals. Nic Cage, feeling emasculated, refuses to leave. He soon succumbs to heat stroke and starts to lose his mind, all while the locals continually harass and torment him. How much can one Nic Cage take?!
Nic Cage’s Falling Down. The Surfer is a silly, surreal, ultra-dark comedy. Nic Cage acts like he’s back in Vampire’s Kiss, which is appropriate seeing as this movie is also about a business man losing his mind. Cage is the single best thing about this film, also much like Vampire’s Kiss.
Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium, Nocebo) directs and Thomas Martin (White Widow) writes. The directing is mostly consistent, going more for the humorous, silly, and surreal than anything else. The humor mostly works, though there is a lot of it. There is a stark tonal shift during the final 25 minutes or so, and the focus on comedy means it’s not as easy to take this film seriously when it wants us to.
It doesn’t help that the writing is incredibly bad. Characters act in unrealistic ways. One example is that the locals resemble bullies from a Stephen King novel. Characters don’t behave or react believably, either. Nic Cage’s son disappears for a good 95% or more of this film and Cage's character doesn’t even notice. There’s also a lot of dead air throughout as characters sneak around, hide, or wait a good deal of the time.
Radek Ladczuk (The Babadook, The Nightingale, Nocebo) is in charge of cinematography, and does quality work. He constantly goes for the trippy or surreal. Sometimes it can be too much, like how the use of colors is nice and psychedelic, but also might make you feel like your eyes are bleeding. Regardless, Ladczuk clearly understood the assignment.
If all you want to see is Nic Cage lose his mind, you’ll get that in spades with The Surfer. Unfortunately, that’s about all this flick has to offer. Nic Cage being Nic Cage will never not be entertaining, but there are far better films to watch if you’re in the mood for that kind of thing. The Surfer isn’t the only person at the beach. Complete with an unsatisfying conclusion, The Surfer totally wipes out, dude! You’d do best to seek out Falling Down or Vampire’s Kiss instead.
2 STARS
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