The Surfer

The Surfer is another brilliant showcase for Nicolas Cage’s endless range and charisma.

It's an exercise in doing a lot within one location and a simple premise.

Cage’s unnamed character wants to take his seemingly estranged son surfing by the site of his childhood home, which he is hoping to purchase.

The idyllic beach is frequented by a cult-like group of men who guard the water day and night.

As Cage’s character plumbs new depths to compete with this group, the film becomes a psychedelic, hallucinatory, rug-pulling masterpiece of intrigue, twists, mystery and metaphor.

Certainly a film to sit with and not one to all tastes, its ambiguous ending not quite wrapping the story up with a neat bow.

That ending has many different interpretations online and many theories come into play from a comment on toxic masculinity to a reckoning of unprocessed grief and trauma.

The death of ego, the death of guilt and a literal and metaphorical wave of repressed emotion are all possible meanings.

It can be as heavy or as light an ending as you wish but the film unfolding before it is constantly entertaining and hugely original.

Sure, it probably doesn’t need a third act drug trip to go on top of the previous surreality and a definitive ending would be neater but this is a wild ride and a recommended watch.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️