Reel Review From SXSW 2025: The Surfer is a Visual Feast but Slow Story
A man (Nicholas Cage) returns to the idyllic Australian beach where he grew up to surf with his son (Finn Little). When a group of locals begin pushing back against him, the man is drawn into a days long conflict that has him questioning if he will ever return home.
The Surfer is a psychological thriller that will have you confused but also bored for the entire run time. Once you find out the twist, there’s still another unnecessary twenty minutes of movie to watch. Clearly Australians can be territorial, but this is taking it to the extreme. This apparent ‘locals only’ beach has a dark aura that lingers.
When he arrives to the beach, the man is full of hope and joy. Learning that he is buying his childhood home just steps off the sand, he hopes to bring his son to enjoy the beach he did in his youth. However, the locals push back against any newcomers or returners. Not allowing him near the water, the stubborn man decides to stake out for the night. A disturbing turn of events start to unravel making you wonder if this is reality or some sort of sun induces hallucination.
The man’s surfboard gets stolen, his phone dies, he looses his wallet, his car dies, and yet he never leaves the beach. In order to survive another night, he sleeps in a homeless man’s car and almost eats a rat. This quick deterioration into madness feels like a fever dream set against an idyllic looking warm beach. The locals however seem to be in a sort of cult that even involves the police and beach coffee shop operator. This entire experience feels like one giant conspiracy targeting a singular man who just wanted to surf on his childhood beach.
Finally after two days of anguish, the man is initiated into the group. The entire interaction between the man and the group was a psychological initiation, making sure he was man enough to join them. The build up to the attempted shocking reveal was seemingly out of proportion.
While this film explores aspects of toxic masculinity and group think, its execution was a bit shoddy. Its commentary on the treatment of homelessness was more interesting, but still not fully developed. If you wanted to feel gaslit for an entire hour and half long movie, this is for you! However, the length of the film and slow pacing does not pay off in the end.
The Surfer hits theaters on May 2.
