Director: Lorcan Finnegan

Stars: Nicolas Cage, Julian McMahon, Nic Cassim, Miranda Tapsell

More than a regular Nicolas Cage gurning session, thankfully, Irish director Finnegan’s film is a lurid and feverish phycological thriller that looks to 70s Australian and U.S. cinema for inspiration.

Cage is The Surfer, a middle-aged man returning to his hometown on the Australian East Coast, where he plans to repurchase the family home where he grew up. When we first encounter him, The Surfer is taking his son, The Kid (Little) to the nearby idyllic Luna Bay to surf.

They are prevented from using the beach by a band of aggressively territorial surfers led by Scally (McMahon), who we discover, is a self-proclaimed guru in the Andrew Tate mould. As well as unwelcoming locals, The Surfer is contending with his bank and mortgage lenders who are not returning his calls. While frantically trying to close the deal, he meets an old tramp (Cassim) who is living in a broken-down station wagon, and who claims that Scally’s gang killed his dog.

After his car is vandalized and his property stolen, and he finds himself unable to access food or water, The Surfer’s grip on reality begins to slip. But he resolves to hold his ground.

Director Finnegan marries John Milius’s 'Big Wednesday's' life's-a-beach lyricism to a disturbingly lurid and feverish presentation of Australian masculinity a la 'Wake in Fright'. The plot feels pre-determined and once it is clear what is going on with Cage’s character there are no surprises, and with its retro crash zoom shots and darkly ironic tropical score, as well as a typically go-for-broke performance from Cage, it veers into camp and pastiche. Still, it’s good pastiche, and Julian McMahon, with his piercing blue stare, exhibits a real Mephistophelean charisma as Scally.

The Surfer is out now

David Willoughby

Follow David on Bluesky @davidwilloughby.bsky.social