I knew The Surfer was filmed in Yallingup and starred Nicholas Cage, but aside from this I didn’t really have any idea what the movie was about. My initial expectation was that it was surf movie like Endless Summer (cult surfing movie from the 1960s). Even the posters of the two movies are similar.
It turns out that is about as far away from it that it could be.
The Surfer is a taut psychological thriller. Nicholas Cage plays The Surfer who grew up in Luna Bay, moved to America and then was determined to buy his childhood home back. It is set over the days around Christmas, when he was negotiating when to see his son on Christmas Eve.
As he walks down to the beach for a surf with his son, they encounter the locals who are aggressively defending their “Don’t live here, don’t surf here” moto. The story from there is his encounters with the toxic masculinity of the ‘local surfers’ and community of Luna Bay.
The film’s director, Lorcan Finnega, said “the story itself could’ve been transposed to Portugal, or California, or South Africa.” Localism is a global surfing culture, not specific to a particular location.
Nicholas Cage puts in a solid performance as The Surfer while Julian McMahon brilliantly plays Scally, a guru like surfer, cultivating and gathering the local boys into his group. Finn Little from Paramount’s Yellowstone series, plays the Surfer’s son (known simply as The Kid) who lives with his mother.
The movie is completely filmed in the Yallingup Beach Lookout carpark and the beach below it. In the carpark is the toilet block and a coffee van. On the beach there is a wooden cabin where the local surfers hang out. The house that The Surfer wanted to buy is located on Yallingup Hill. Although the beach and ocean look amazing and Nicholas Cage stayed at a well-known surfer’s house on Yallingup Hil… that is where the links to Yallingup end. The names of the ‘Luna Bay’ streets and facilities were fictional.
Fun fact: Nicholas can surf but had some refresher lessons because of Yallingup’s big waves.
The Surfer is a disturbingly uncomfortable movie diving into dark areas such as toxic masculinity. It took a little while to process the film, but after consideration I give it 4 stars.
The Surfer opens in Perth cinemas on 15th May then heads to streaming on Stan from 15th June.