Leave it to Nicolas Cage to have a movie about a Satanic serial killer and have that not even be his most stressful movie of the year. Fresh off terrifying audiences worldwide as the mannequin-like murderer who delivers the final line of “Hail Satan!” with campy glee, Cage ditches the prosthetics for a much more raw, but just as anxiety-inducing performance. Lorcan Finnegan’s The Surfer, which premiered at Cannes earlier this year, is a disorienting, manic, mean, and visceral viewing experience, 99 minutes of pure sun-beaten terror. Similar to the beautiful greenery of Sweden juxtaposing the crimes of a murderous cult in Midsommar, Finnegan takes the idyllic coast of Australia, with its seemingly neverending golden beaches, and makes it a claustrophobic hellscape that Cage’s nameless protagonist cannot escape from. While it’s a behemoth to behold, from the lead performance to the direction to the dizzying score, The Surfer loses itself in its many ideas and thematic pursuits, none of which feel that coherently executed.

What Is ‘The Surfer’ About?

Cage’s The Surfer, as he is credited, is a high-flying businessman who is trying to salvage his broken marriage and distant relationship with his teenage son. He brings his son to the idyllic Luna Bay, where he grew up. Despite his American accent, the Surfer was born and bred on this beach, pursuing a career as a pro-surfer before an incident involving his shady father caused his mother to take him to California. The Surfer has spent his entire life making his way back to this area of the world, and he’s in a bidding war for his childhood home. However, much like Adam Sandler’s Howie Ratner in Uncut Gems, nothing goes his way. A volatile gang of surfers led by Julian McMahon’s Scally forbids the Surfer and his son to take to the waves, as one of his aggressive goons tells them simply, “Don’t live here, don’t surf here.” The Surfer, likely someone who’s not used to the word “no,” puts up a fight, but finally acquiesces when he sees how shaken his son is.

The Surfer returns to the beach the next day, sitting in his car as he tries to source the extra money for a higher bid on his house. The gang starts to taunt him, stealing his surfboard and physically assaulting him when he tries to get it back. The local police are chummy with the gang and do nothing, leaving the Surfer’s only ally (sort of) to be a mentally ill vagrant who’s also targeted by the gang. As the sun sets over this seemingly peaceful seaside, things go from bad to worse for The Surfer, but he refuses to give up and leave the beach. He becomes prey to every person around him, losing everything but the clothes on his back — literally. As the unforgiving sun beats down on his weatherworn skin, the Surfer spirals into a hellish madness, and the dissonance between his perspective and reality progressively grows larger.

‘The Surfer’ Lacks a Strong Message
Image via Cannes Film Festival

Right from the title card, Finnegan pulls the audience into the hot hell of the Surfer’s world, whether we like it or not. Cage is immediately engaging, making his slow mental downfall all the more visceral, as if we feel every knock against the step down into utter madness. It’s a technically excellent film, with Finnegan handpicking different cinematic tools to create as disorienting an experience as possible. There’s a palpable sense of dread, even when the imagery shows nothing but natural beauty and François Tétaz’s score sounds straight out of a Disney movie. Quick zoom-ins of Cage’s tormented face insert an element of Shakespearian tragedy, which is fitting due to the very King Lear-esque story. A man so blinded by his pursuit of glory that he can’t see that every decision he makes only sets him further away from his ultimate goal, ignoring the pleas of those with his best intentions at heart, is the basic plot of both Shakespeare and Finnegan’s works.

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Plot may be a strong word, as the thin narrative of Thomas Martin’s script does start to become a bigger problem as the movie unfolds. While Finnegan is not a director known for making films with easy messages and answers, The Surfer feels like much more of an aimless pursuit than Vivarium. His 2019 breakthrough was an odd sci-fi-esque exploration of how heteronormative values can entrap unassuming souls in a cyclical life of torment and unhappiness. It’s also a clear metaphor for the housing crisis in Finnegan’s native Ireland, pushing families trying to live “The Dream” further out of civilization and into a life of forced compliance with societal expectations like motherhood. In The Surfer, Finnegan is taking pieces out of a myriad of ideas, but failing to build one big picture. While gentrification and locals being pushed out of their homes by wealthy outsiders seems to be a throughline here, it’s hard to feel anything but total resentment toward the locals when they’re violent bullies who torment homeless people, murder teenagers, and sleep with minors. Even though Cage’s character is an arrogant American with tons of money and a flashy car, we can’t feel anything but sympathy for him as he’s slowly beaten down by the current occupants of his former home.

The movie intentionally wants the audience to constantly question what is real, and what is in the imagination of Cage’s character, and it definitely succeeds. But this blurring prevents any substantial message from being gathered, and the themes and ideas get lost in the chaos as Cage beats a rat against a car. The movie is a test of one’s endurance and patience, much like how Uncut Gems has you look away from the screen even though it’s not a bit scary. Finnegan excels in making every shot packed with exhilarating tension, and the film effectively touches on every sense. Cage’s Surfer is a figurative and literal punching bag, and the audience feels every single blow as if Finnegan has us wired up to feel everything the protagonist does. The uncomfortable close-ups work to take on the difficult challenge of making a beautiful, sprawling beach into a hopeless arena of bloody battle — a testament to Finnegan’s talents as a director.

Nicolas Cage and Julian McMahon Go Toe to Toe
Image via Cannes Film Festival

The Surfer feels like a movie made for Nicolas Cage. It probably isn’t as earth-shattering as Sandler’s was in Uncut Gems simply because you expect nothing less from Cage. He sets up his character as a composed man of wealth and stature, which makes his slow and painful breakdown all the more jarring. He gets beaten, shat on, stands on glass while barefoot, tries to eat a rat, and drinks tap water the color of urine and blood mixed together, all while he loses his damn mind, and it takes an actor as unrestrained and unpretentious as Cage to pull it all off. The film never cuts him a break, tormenting him throughout his entire mind and body, and Cage is well up to the task.

To be the human embodiment of the film’s many transgressions and atrocities, who better than the original Dr. Doom himself? Julian McMahon, whose effortless, maniacal charisma had me rooting against the Fantastic Four, chews up the sandy scenery as the personification of men’s greed and brutality. He’s not an out-and-out villain like what you’ll find in a horror movie or a Bond film, but a complete bully drunk on power who revels in punching below him. His goons play the laddish, taunting hooligans with uncomfortable accuracy that you almost want to get on your knees and pray in the cinema that you get to see at least one of them get an ass-whooping. All these performances play to the movie’s main agenda — showing how ugly the world can be — to perfection, and make up for the film’s lack of a coherent plot.

The Surfer is sure to please all Cage fans, as it sits back and lets him do his thing. Finnegan’s direction continues to mature, making a movie about, essentially, people being horrible to each other, into an engaging thrill ride that makes you severely nauseous but you still don’t want to get off. What ultimately weighs it down is the lack of a core narrative to ground the chaos and madness around it. Still, come for the views, the insanity, and Cage giving away a priceless watch for a flat white.

ProsNicolas Cage is commanding and engaging, even when he’s spiralling into complete madness.Julian McMahon creates a real-life detestable villain who will have you seething with anger.Lorcan Finnegan creates an enthralling experience for all the senses, and will have you bent over from anxiety. ConsThe movie lacks a coherent plot, which is needed to ground the chaos surrounding it.The themes and ideas of the film get lost as it’s difficult to decipher what’s real and what’s been imagined.

Release Date May 17, 2024 Director Lorcan Finnegan Runtime 99 Minutes Writers Thomas Martin Studio(s) Tea Shop Productions , Arenamedia , Lovely Productions , Gramercy Park Media , Screenwest Expand

The Surfer screened at this year’s BFI London Film Festival.