Starring: Sam Worthington, Myles Pollard, Xavier Samuel and Robyn Malcolm.
Distributor: Hopscotch Films
Runtime: 113 mins. Reviewed in May 2013
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Drift is a Western Australian film, made in Western Australia, around the Margaret River region. It should do no damage to the West Australian tourism authority and its advertising!
It will be entertaining for those who enjoy surfing and surfing films. It will be especially entertaining for those who were teenagers and young adults in the 1970s, a chance for reminiscing, looking at the clothing styles of the time, listening to the music, remembering the language, some ideals and some hopes and, of course, disappointments.
The film begins strikingly in black and white, a mother taking the car keys from her drunken husband’s pocket, putting her two sons and the luggage into the car and driving through the different landscapes of Australia to Margaret River. It then makes the transition to color, the young boys seeing the surf, the beaches, the cliffs and wanting to settle there. It is not instantly easy, the boys being teased because they came from the east, which leads to some fights and punch ups.
However, the main part of the film takes place when they grow up. Myles Pollard plays the older son, Andrew, good at surfing, but injuring his ankle on his arrival and having to be rescued by his younger brother, Jimmy. Andrew is the responsible son, working at the local mill, Jimmy is carefree, and the local surfing champion. Jimmy is played by Xavier Samuel (a more exuberant role than usual). The mother is hardworking, sewing for a living. She is played effectively by Robyn Malcolm.
The boys encounter a couple from Hawaii. JB is Australian (Sam Worthington) but an itinerant, going from surf to surf, thinking Indonesia has the ideal surf – and bringing back drugs from Indonesia. He has been entrusted with a young Hawaiian girl, Lani, (Leslie Ann Brandt). Both young men are attracted.
There is a moment when Andrew is offered a better job at the mill but he declines and the decides to set up his own company, making surfboards with the help of a boyhood friend, Gus (Aaron Glenane). The mother will make the wet suits. They have some moments of success but cannot compete with the bigger companies.
Some complications come with the local bikies and with drug dealing, Gus becoming addicted.
In order to pay off some debt, Andrew decides to go into the regional surfing competition, clashing with Jimmy who goes off by himself up the coast. After some initial success, Andrew loses but Jimmy comes back to take his place, with some daring riding of the waves and daring photography by JB.
The ending is not quite as predictable as we might expect.
The surfing seems a particularly well done, the photography of the waves oftentimes quite magnificent. While it might seem reminiscent of Australian television series, there is more feeling in the characters to engage our interest, though perhaps not for those for whom surfing is something alien!
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