Nicolas Cage stars as a man who returns to the idyllic beach of his childhood to surf with his son, and show him his Dad’s old home that he is planning to buy. However, they encounter a group of locals telling him “don’t live here, don’t surf here”. His son leaves but Cage stays and his life falls apart.
I am struggling to get a handle on how I felt about The Surfer. Having a coffee in the cinema bar beforehand, the guy serving described it as “Hitchcockian”, but it is certainly not that. The set-up of a newcomer being terrorised by hostile locals felt like a 1970s American made for TV film, and I mean that as a compliment!
As Cage’s character stays overnight in the beach car park, things spiral out of control, and it becomes a study of a man having a mental breakdown. That part is very well written and performed, with Cage delivering a trademark unhinged turn, but it was quite frustrating as I was thinking why does he want to live there, and why does he not go home? But the appearance of an older homeless guy hints that all is not what it seems.
From then on, The Surfer takes a number of turns, flaunting with being a horror movie and touching on the dangers of toxic masculinity. Whilst I was never bored with any of it, and I admired the ambitions of writer Thomas Martin and the ability of director Lorcan Finnegan to keep the tension high, it ended up being needlessly muddled and lacking focus.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10