Drift

'DRIFT': Three Stars (Out of Five)

Surf movie set in the 1970s about two brothers trying to start a successful surf shop at the high point of the sport's business. It stars Myles Pollard, Xavier Samuel, Sam Worthington and the beautiful Lesley-Ann Brandt (who bares a striking resemblance to Halle Berry). It was directed by Ben Nott and Morgan O'Neill and written by O'Neill and Tim Duffy. I found the film to be mildly amusing but I think surfers (and surf movie fans) will get more of a kick out of it.

Pollard (who also produced the flick) stars as Andy Kelly and Samuel plays his brother Jimmy; two brothers who fled their abusive father, with their mom (Robyn Malcolm), when they were kids. They moved to a coastal town (in Australia) and became obsessed with surfing. When they're much older (in the 70s) they try to avoid a life of crime and start a surf shop; selling wetsuits and boards (out of their garage). They meet JB (Worthington, who was a Drama school classmate of Pollard's) and his friend Lani (Brandt) who come into town and become business associates of the brothers.

The movie has some decent surfing scenes and beautiful visuals but the characters aren't quite as developed or relatable as I like in a character-driven drama film. The surf scenes are kind of cool and exciting but they are few and far between. I did really enjoy Worthington's character though and all of the acting is decent in the movie. Like I said I'm sure surf and sports fans will enjoy the film more but I found it to be merely decent.

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"You know the trouble with being the last man standing? You got no one to share it with." This is the true story of Jimmy (Samuel) & Andy Kelly. They are two brothers who share a love for surfing. When they come up with an idea to open a shop to sell their own gear Andy is 100% into it while Jimmy just wants to do his own thing. Between the money problems, the dangerous waves and angry bikers things don't go as easy as the brothers planned. There have been a few surfing movies to come out in the last few years. Soul Surfer I thought was very good. Chasing Mavericks was OK. This one is a little of both. The first hour and a half were a little slow and I almost stopped it a few times, but the ending was great and I am very glad that I stuck with it. There are some movies that are good but the ending seems to ruin everything. This one is the opposite. The movie is a little slow moving but the ending makes up for it. Overall, a movie that is a struggle in some parts but the end is a great reward for sticking with it. I give it a B-.

this honest look at surfing and living in the 70's is not to be missed and you don't need to be a surfer to enjoy this classic piece of Australian cinema. beautifully shot from the land and in the ocean it draws you into the world of these two brother that are as different as chalk and cheese. but both love to surf.

sam worthington plays a drifter hippy who become part of there lives.bring a women with him to add fuel to there little world. but it there love of surfing and doing a job you love not a job you have too do that make the movie so enjoyable. and it not a surf movie that dies the minute it leaves the beach, you follow these guys in and out of the water with as much interest.

an all round great film that made me long for the beach and a simpler time.if you want to see a good Australian drama that not just made for TV check it out.

Really enjoyed this movie. Some nice Australiana and look back into the culture in the 60s and 70s.

Enjoyed the whole movie, just wished the soundtrack was relevant to the era.

Worth a chilled watch.

Expectations for the lowish-budget Aussie surfing film Drift were not pitched overly high. My local cinema's synopsis of the story about two brothers who 'spend their youth searching for the perfect wave…(dreaming) of a world where they can surf to live and live to surf' I pretty much felt sure what I was letting myself in for.

But the film delivered more than was promised.

The film has a lively start, with the brothers as young children arriving fortuitously at the Western Australian surf town which would become their home after the cross-continent drive from Sydney where their mother had executed a tense midnight flit for the three of them to escape their drunken brute of a father.

The action quickly fast forwards to their young adulthood as they lead a laid back if dead-end lifestyle before realising they can make surfboards better than those commercially available, moulding them in the garage at their home as their seamstress mother starts fashioning custom-made wetsuits. Their ambitions to expand are constantly thwarted by a lack of funds, the myopic tendencies of the town's old world conservative bank manager and the unwanted attentions of the local constabulary suspicious of their motives and lifestyle. Matters are complicated by a feud with the local bikie-gang – also the town's drug suppliers.

A talented, itinerant and very hirsute surf filmmaker, a slightly unconvincing Sam Worthington, arrives on the scene in his bus-come-home with an attractive Hawaiian companion befriending the brothers and giving them much needed support in their constant battles with the bikies and encouragement in their enterprises.

The main characterisations within the film were well drawn. Myles Pollard gave a stand-out performance as the elder brother, Andy, whose drive and business acumen didn't impinge upon his enjoyment of the more flippant things in life. The younger, rather wayward and unreliable brother Jimmy was nicely played by Xavier Samuel with roguish charm. Their mutual attraction and rivalry for the Hawaiian girl was subtly underplayed.

The story swept along at a good pace and remained surprisingly fresh and original until the film's showdown. In debt to the bikies after becoming unwittingly involved in a drug deal by an accomplice, the boys desperately need cash they don't have. But as luck would have it, there is an upcoming major surf competition on the horizon. If only this could be won and the cash prize used to get them out of trouble…

Jimmy, the more talented surfer, has gone walkabout so it falls to Andy to register as a wild-card entrant and save both their dreams and business – as well as his unbroken legs. From that point onwards, we were in rather familiar territory.

This is a small scale film, well aware of its limitations which on the whole punched nicely above its weight. It portrayed a dark side to the sleepy coastal town to a degree I had not expected. Cinematography from Geoffrey Hall was first rate capturing the beauty and awesome power of the surf. There is enough good surfing action to please the aficionados but not at the expense of developing story and characters. A sporadic glam-rock soundtrack was insufficient, possibly the result of budget restraints.