DRIFT

Australia, 2013, 113 minutes, Colour.
Myles Pollard, Xavier Samuel, Sam Worthington, Lesley-Ann? Brandt, Robyn Malcolm, Aaron Glenane, Steve Bastoni.
Directed by Ben Nott, Morgan O’Neill?.

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!

1. The appeal of the film? Audience interest in surfing? The 1970s?
2. A West Australian story? Based on actual characters and events? Family? Enterprise?
3. The seventies look, clothes, hair, language, music, drugs, style?
4. The 1970s music?
5. The prologue, black and white photography, mother, getting the keys from her drunken husband’s pocket, getting the car, the kids and luggage, the husband’s attack, the hostility of the sons? Leaving? The collage of the travel, the different Australian terrains? Arriving in Western Australia, the Indian Ocean coast, Margaret River? The surf, the boys looking, the attraction? The mother’s appointment, the car breaking down? Influencing the decision to stay?
6. The transition to color, the coast, the waves, the beach, the cliffs, the bush, the town, the streets, shops and banks? Authentic feel?
7. The family story: the mother, leaving her husband, love for her children, loyal, working hard, selling, her concern for her sons? Their fighting at school? Growing up?
8. The two sons, their age difference? Jimmy and his rescuing Andy from the surf and his foot court in the rock? The fights of school, Jimmy punching? Support for each other? The Ying and Yang? Andrew responsible, Jimmie carefree? Andrew: calling his brother ‘son’? Andrew’s work at the mill, discussions with Percy, with the boss? Percy being let go, the speech and the gift of the money? The boss offering Andrew a better job, his refusal? The issue of Jimmy stealing, the police, returning the stolen goods? Jimmy as champion server, his extroverted behavior, the girls?
9. Meeting J.B. and Lani? Their background, J.B’s philosophy of life, the hippy touch, the bus to Nowhere? His look, his photography, travel, to Indonesia and back, the drugs? Friend of Lani’s father and promising to look after her? Her age, background, trouble with the boys in Hawaii? Her love for the surf?
10. Jimmy and his attraction to Lani? Andrew and his quieter attraction? Her response to him? The sexual relationship? And the defending her and her independence?
11. Gus, as a boy, his limp, and helping Andrew and Jimmy, his work on the surfboards? An adult, his work and his skills? Friendships? Taking the drugs, becoming addicted, at the parties? The encounter with Miller? Plan to import the drugs in the boards? The discovery? Gus and his final addiction, with Andrew, going into the surf, his death? His funeral and the ritual in the water? Miller, the confrontation with Gus, the demands, the money, the brutality?
12. Setting up the business, the hard work, the shop, Drift? The first sale, the gradual sales, the bank manager refusing the loan, the mortgage on the house? Making the boards, the mother making the suits? Percy, his offer, the money? Getting the building for the shop, opposite the bank? The fixing up the shop and setting up the equipment and the business?
13. Gordon King, his Hawaiian champ, competitiveness, offer for the business, the refusal, the final competition and the victory?
14. J. B. and his photography, his cameras, the dangerous photos of Jimmy, the wave and the loss of the camera? His liking later taking the photos of Jimmy? On the front page of the paper? His planting the drugs in Miller’s house? Taking off again?
15. The issue of drugs, the period, the parties, the young men and women? Miller and his bikies? The role of the police? Miller reporting Andrew, the search in the shop, the continued surveillance outside the shop, especially when his mother offered the policeman the cup of tea and he was putting the drugs and the sink? Miller’s comeuppance?
16. The group going on the trip, the sales during the trip? The continued refusal of the loan? The mother planning to sell the house, Andrew stopping her?
17. The clash between the two brothers, the different temperaments, the hit? Jimmy leaving, by himself, Lani’s visit and persuading him to come back?
18. Andrew and the drugs, the discovery, putting them down the sink, talking with Gus, his death?
19. The competition, Andrew enrolling, getting the permit, his initial success, Jimmy’s arrival? The bond between the brothers, Jimmy and his surfing, the group watching, the competitiveness, J.B. and the photo? The need for the money to pay back Miller?
20. Jimmy not succeeding, the Hawaiian champion? The aftermath, the photo in the paper, sales, the American contacts? A bright future?
21. A genial film for the target young audience and for surfers? The Australian tone? .