Nicolas Cage plays a man on the edge of losing his dream of getting a piece of his youth back in this off-kilter examination of hardcore zen from director Lorcan Finnegan
Nicolas Cage does his best work in film when playing characters on the edge of losing themselves. You can see this as early in films like Peggy Sue Got Married, to his supporting star turn in Norman Jewison’s Moonstruck to the film that won him his Oscar for Best Actor in Leaving Las Vegas. In the renaissance of his career, you could very much see nothing but this in 2013’s Mandy directed by Panos Cosmatos.
Here’s director Lorcan Finnegan hones that lost man energy into a shiv in The Surfer, hitting theaters on May 2nd from Roadside Attractions. Cage’s unnamed protagonist, the film’s titular surfer, is looking to buy his childhood home overlooking a private beach in Luna Bay, Australia. He takes his son to this beach to deliver him the best view of this new home and as a last ditch attempt to bring his broken family together as a Christmas gift. This is foiled by a gang of hardcore local surfers who follow Scally (Nip/Tuck’s Julian McMahon), a zen guru that’s one part a Tony Robbins self-help businessman, and the rest channelling Tyler Durden by way of Point Break’s Bodie. These men worship Scally, who styles himself a Shaolin style surf monk who breaks men down to their most base self so they can discover their true selves, down to branding them when they achieve enlightenment. Cage’s Surfer realizes this fact and as he’s broken down mentally by this idea and the heat torturing him, he believes that if Scally accepts him, he can finally get the chance to surf this break.
Stifling this need, is the desire for him to acquire the house, which is slipping out of his hands through financing issues, not having a phone and constant torture from locals who take his money, possessions and self-worth. It’s to Lorcan and Cage’s credits that they make this seemingly insane scenario somewhat plausible — maybe the result of heatstroke and bad luck working in tandem. Lorcan’s last film, Vivarium, similarly featured a couple trapped in a suburban labyrinth that seemed inescapable and infinite. The Twilight Zone nature of the film plays to Cage’s ability to make the surreal possible. McMahon’s Scally offers the surfer his hopes at arm’s length as he tempts him with the ability to quit at any time because he isn’t worthy. It’s a deliberate examination of one’s sense of personal zen – the surfer has to let go of everything to reach his need, the surf. Scalley is presented as a twisted Buddha – much like Bodie in Point Break (Bodie’s own name derives from the Bodhi tree where the Buddha is said to have gained enlightenment). The surfer is something like Johnny Utah, where he wants that kinship and freedom to let go and surf, but he’s bothered by Scally’s actions, including possibly murdering a local surfer to take his girl and torturing his father with news on his fate. The surfer also has the guilt of an unspoken tragedy from his past informing his actions and the fear that he will abandon his son the way his father seemingly abandoned him. This starts to erupt as Scally and his men systematically take personal mementoes from Cage’s character as he seethes at the injustice of not being accepted by them. He loses his father’s surfboard and Scally emblazons it with the word SANCTUARY and claims its the sign for his beach house, teasing Cage with the sanctuary he craves from surfing as well as the desire for acceptance from these locals and this community he can’t seem to claim for his own.
All that being said, McMahon and Cage have tremendous chemistry together in the film. McMahon really commands the screen as Scally, a Tyler Durden type who feels a bit schizophrenic at times as a family man and community leader, yet has this sadistic streak in him where he gets off on torturing Cage’s character. He feels he’s doing Cage a favor in helping break him down to the greatness he saw in him as a young surfer versus the broken man he presents as now. In this, you can see the Tyler Durden meets Point Break’s Bodhi – he’s a bad man who feels he’s doing things for the right reasons and those make the best villains. When the two face off, it’s really very electric and real.
In particular, there’s a scene where McMahon’s Scally offers Cage’s unnamed surfer food and drink if he would abandon his quest to surf the break at Luna Bay. Prior to this, Cage’s character is forced to drink non-potable greywater due to dehydration. But this interchange underscores what makes the movie fascinating. That while our protagonist is something of a broken man, he’ll do whatever it takes to fulfill his and his family’s needs overall. This is where Cage excels at in finding great performances and The Surfer is no different. It’s got a fever dream quality and if you’re a fan of Cage’s work, then this film and the film’s brilliant sun-soaked cinematography and direction will lure you in. The film’s riveting third act will keep you in your seat even as the picture fills you with dread intertwined with the hypnotic rolls of surf hitting the beach.
The Surfer hits theaters on May 2nd from Roadside Attractions.
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VIDEO REVIEW
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THE SURFER (2025)
**** OUT OF 5
Nicolas Cage turns in a haunting fever dream of a lead performance in a movie that defies genres but settles somewhere between The Twilight Zone and Point Break.