What if I told you there is a new movie where Nicholas Cage plays a man who is sustaining abuse, theft, beatings, cons, insults, stare, hot sun warmer than Everything we see in the "sun", You have to eat a rat, a rat to bite, mock, discrimination, sunbathing, extreme thirst and hunger - everything because he just wants to go a few sweet waves in a beautiful Australian beach in the days before Christmas? What if I add that at one point, Cage walks around with a rat in his pocket, just to take that rat and put it in the local surfer's mouth as I shouted "Eat Rat!" Over and over (a line delivery intended to be part of The big canon of Nicholas Cage's quotes)? All of these elements are just part of the "surfer" attraction, the latest film in which Nicholas Cage plays a character that descends into madness. But the "surfer" is also a pretty shaken movie for male weakness and toxicity, localism and why surfing is great, dude.

Nicholas Cage Starswells as a nameless character only deserved as a surfer, who wants nothing more than having a nice day on the beach surfing with his son before showing him the house he bought - the house in which he lived as a child - in an attempt to conquer him in a stormy time with a divorce. There is a small problem with Cage's plan, because the stormy man in the Santa Claus is coming out of the water saying "Don't live here, don't surf here."

Well, the beach is technically public, but that doesn't mean anything to the men who occupied the beach and claimed it as a country of their pretty silly but still threatening surfing gang. Before age can squeeze his cause further, another man appears, a very tan and very torn boy dressed in a bright red poncho named Scali (Ianulian McMahon) who warns Cage to get out of the beach or elsewhere.

Irish director Lorcan Fingan (the tripper "Vivarium") walked a beautiful line in the "surfer", which has a very aesthetic new wave in the 1970s, with psychedelic arrangement and camera angles, the sequences of the fantasy of the day, and many slow zums to be in Even in terms of threats and ridicule by the surfing gang, Cage decides not to take over the loss and leave, but instead, he remains the rest of the film in the beach and surroundings, accompanied only by a homeless (Nick Kasim). The longer it stays, the more cage starts to lose everything it owns. First, he loses material objects, then his dignity, then the mind, and finally his grip on reality, because Cage's surfer faces humiliation, fraud and threats from the tubular surfing gang.

The Surfer gets a lot of mileage from its sunny location, with Cage turning into red and red, as his days grow long, patience shortens and its sensibility decreases. This is a very effective thriller, with Cage losing his swing along with the audience because he wonders why it happens to him, whether he is deceived, tested or punished, whether he was once a man (he drives a lexus, has a nice watch and is soon to buy a good beach home) or if he was always a local. Cage is not foreign stories of lowering madness, and he brings all his experiences and actors in this role, as attractive as it is fun to watch. Yes, fun.

Although the amount of suffering this man goes through the almost overlapping of misery porn, she is fortunately balanced with a healthy dose of tripper visual and absurdian comedy. Since the camera is constantly making a slow zoom in the eyes of Cage, the actor puts the whole range of emotions in every scene, going from screaming to rage to a few seconds, while more sunbathing appeared. Although the tone can easily be too reasonable, Thomas Martin's script also has a lot of humor, mostly stems from the stupidity of, say, a gang of surfers in stupid clothes or cage, refusing to return home despite every signing to stop with this hell.

The Surfer has a major turnaround in its third act, which, while also very funny, offers some shocking comments on male behavior and toxicity, and the dangers of stupid people with the presence of social media that speak nonsense about the human predator's characteristic behavior and how swollen it is. This is said, some of the development of late films are too obvious and take away the surprises. However, when it comes to Nicolas Cage's films where he is struggling with an insurmountable chances while losing his mind, the "surfer" is a great time.

/Movie rating: 8 out of 10

The Surfer opens in theaters on May 2, 2025.