DRIFT: Starring Sam Worthington, Myles Pollard, Xavier Samuel and Robyn Malcolm. Directed by Morgan O’Neill and Ben Nott. 113 minutes. Rated M (Drug use, coarse language, mature themes, violence and sexual references).
Reviewed by Mary Ann Kavanagh
Drift is an Australian surfing drama, set in the 1970s.
In this film, which was prompted by true events, there’s a medley of surfboard riding, near-drownings, vintage rock, romance, drug smuggling and a surfie’s farewell.
Robyn Malcolm plays Kat Kelly, the mother of Andy and Jimmy.
At the start of the film, they leave Sydney.
She drives to the rugged, south coast of Western Australia.
The boys are impressed by the surf and want to stay.
So, instead of going to a possible job in Albany, Kat agrees.
Twelve years later, Jimmy (played by Xavier Samuel) is unemployed and enjoying surfboard riding.
His older brother, Andy (played by Myles Pollard) throws in his job at the local timber mill.
He unsuccessfully tries to get a bank loan to help him launch his surfboard and wetsuit business.
Inside their weatherboard cottage, Kat sits at her sewing machine, making the wetsuits.
Then a hippie surf photographer (played by Sam Worthington) tells Andy that his garage business is at odds with the philosophy of soul surfing.
Both Pollard and Worthington grew up in Western Australia, riding surfboards.
They attended Sydney’s prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art at the same time.
During the production of Drift, they and Samuel spent countless hours in the freezing waters of the Margaret River region.
Although Worthington, the star of Avatar, is a surfboard rider, he admitted some of the waves had a frightening effect. However, the pair’s efforts were not in vain.
In my opinion, Drift is the best surfing movie ever made.
Most of its characters are likeable, the acting is superb and the dialogue is, sometimes, quite funny.
The surfboard riding scenes are truly awesome.
At one point, the camera takes us inside the huge wave, which the surfer manages to stay upright on his board.
