The Surfer
**Seen at the 2025 Atlanta Film Festival
Over the past few years, it feels as though some filmmakers have made a conscious decision to just write the craziest shit they can see Nicolas Cage doing, and take a swing at seeing if he’ll do it. This isn’t intended as a knock- Cage is the sort of actor you almost want filmmakers taking big swings with- but sometimes, it feels like filmmakers have the concept of what they want to do, and don’t really know where to go with it. While I see the ideas behind “The Surfer,” and why they’d want Cage in the lead role, this film just grated on me about halfway in.
The film begins with Cage’s character going with his son (Finn Little) going to a secluded beach off the Australian coast to do some surfing. The location has special meaning for Cage’s character- he lived here when he was a kid, and he’s hoping to purchase that same house for his family. When they get to the beach, though, he’s told, “Don’t live here, don’t surf here.” They’re kicked out, and later- after he’s taken his son back to his mother- he returns to the beach, and the start of a surreal series of interactions with the locals begin.
I will say this for director Lorcan Finnegan- he knows exactly how he wants this film to feel. From the pulsating sun-pounding setting and cinematography by Radek Ladczuk to the strange sound design and score by Francois Tetaz, “The Surfer” has elements of David Lynch and Werner Herzog as it puts Cage’s character through the emotional, physical and psychological ringer as one damn thing then another happens to him. I also couldn’t help but think about Fincher’s “The Game,” as this film reveals thematic ideas like being haunted by the past and moving through pain to get to a more stable future. And Cage is game for everything Finnegan and writer Thomas Martin have in store for him. Unfortunately, that really isn’t much, as the film is ultimately 100 minutes of Cage vs a group of toxic Australian surfers, led by Scally, played by Julian McMahon. This is where “The Surfer” really started to wear on me. I picked up on its ideas fairly early on during an interaction between Cage and Scally, so that- when the film got there- I wasn’t surprised, and then, it didn’t really do anything interesting once it got there. I don’t mind out of control Cage, which this has in spades, but “The Surfer” is a disappointing vehicle for that.
