''Drift'' is a 2013 Australian

surf film Surf movies fall into three distinct genres: * The surfing documentary — targeting the surfing enthusiast. * The 1960s beach party films — targeting the broader community. * Fictional feature films with a focus on the reality of surfing. ...

co-directed by Morgan O'Neill and Ben Nott based on the birth of the

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...

industry in the 1970s. It was shot in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

and stars Sam Worthington, Xavier Samuel, and

Myles Pollard Myles Pollard (born 4 November 1972) is an Australian actor. He is known for his role as Dr. James Edmunds in ''Home and Away'' and previously Nick Ryan on the TV series '' McLeod's Daughters''. Early life Myles Pollard was born in Perth, an ...

Plot

In the late 1960s, two young brothers in Sydney escape a violent household with their mother, Kat, by stealing the family car as her partner sleeps. They cross the continent intending to hide out and make a new start in distant Albany, Western Australia. Arriving south of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

on the West Coast, they spot a perfect

surf break A surf break (also break, shore break, or big wave break) is a permanent (or semi-permanent) obstruction such as a coral reef, rock (geology), rock, shoal, or headland that causes a Wind wave, wave to Wind wave#Wave breaking, break, forming a ...

and convince Kat to settle instead in a caravan park in Seacliffe. The kids attend a local school while their mother does piecework as a sewist. Years later, in 1972, they are young adults living with their mum in a run-down house she bought by the beach. Older brother Andy works in a timber mill while surf prodigy Jimmy wins the 1972 Seacliffe Amateur surf title – but away from his sport, he is listless and involved in petty crime. Determined to escape their lack of prospects, headstrong Andy and his brother form a volatile alliance. Andy sees a gap in the market and fashions custom-made wetsuits sewed by Kat and new short surfboards in their backyard garage. Eventually, they attract some sales, although they are refused a bank loan to develop the business. JB, an infamous itinerant surf filmmaker, and Lani, his

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

an companion, drive into town in a converted school bus towing a

Mini Moke The Mini Moke is a small, front-wheel-drive utility and recreational convertible, conceived and manufactured as a lightweight military vehicle by British Motor Corporation (BMC), and subsequently marketed for civilian use under the Austin Moto ...

. The brothers start a business called Drift, and their troubles with a drug-dealing biker gang begin to escalate. JB embodies the era's anti-establishment vibe and is skeptical of Andy's interest in expanding his business. However, he soon realizes that if the brothers can survive and stay true to their surfing roots, they might be part of something greater. The fledgling business generates a powerful buzz among the hard-core local surfers, but when shooting publicity shots, Jimmy is towed onto a massive wave at a surf break called "the Morgue." Tensions arise as their boat capsizes and JB's expensive waterproof camera is lost. The brothers’ progressive ideas further annoy the conservative locals and particularly the police, and they also find themselves embroiled in a violent feud with the bikers. The gang leader, Miller, uses a heroin-addicted surfer, Gus, to import kilos of heroin concealed in an order of surfboard blanks to the Drift surf shop. But the drugs are discovered by the brothers and flushed away by Andy, imperiling their and Gus's lives when the gang discovers that they have no product and an enormous debt to suppliers. Gus, after trying to quit drugs, commits suicide by paddling out into the surf. Andy's growing relationship with Lani causes friction between the brothers and JB. The town hosts a pro surf competition, which Andy enters with the intention of using the prize money to pay the bikers back. But Jimmy, a better surfer, returns from introspection (where he was also hiding out from the gang, fearing for his life) and replaces his brother. Jimmy gets to the competition final with a Hawaiian pro. In the last 60 seconds, Jimmy, who is losing points, catches a huge wave, surfs a long barrel, and is photographed by JB (who has located and fixed his camera) doing a hands-off aerial. He then wipes out, gets injured on an underwater reef, and loses the competition after Andy saves him. Without any money to pay the bikers, Kay agrees to sell the family house to the bank manager for a low price. The brothers drive to the surf shop and discover that it is packed with customers and looked after by Lani. JB's photo on the front page of the local newspaper, with the headline 'The future of surfing', brought in this business. With money suddenly rolling in, Andy rips up and burns the house sale deed in front of the banker. Jimmy is invited to join the world pro surf tour. He reluctantly agrees to go and discover the world, encouraged by JB, who lets it slip that Miller, the leader of the biker gang, has been arrested – JB secretly planted Indonesian hash in his house and tipped off the police. Andy, Lani, and Kat wave as JB starts his bus and drives out of town to unknown future surf breaks.

Cast

* Xavier Samuel as Jimmy *

as Andy * Sam Worthington as JB * Lesley-Ann Brandt as Lani *

Robyn Malcolm Robyn Jane Malcolm (born 1965) is a New Zealand actress, who first gained recognition for her role as nurse Ellen Crozier on the soap opera ''Shortland Street''. She is best known for playing Cheryl West, matriarch to a sometimes criminal wor ...

as Kat * Maurie Ogden as Percy * Aaron Glenane as Gus * Sean Keenan as young Andy * Steve Bastoni as Miller

Production

Tim Duffy wrote an early script in 2007. Myles Pollard became attached as actor and producer and asked Sam Worthington, with whom he had attended Drama School, to star. Worthington expressed interest but, at the time, could not commit given his international film schedule. Morgan O'Neill wrote the screenplay and became co-director with Ben Nott. Worthington became available and agreed to play a support role, and funding was obtained from

Screen Australia Screen Australia is the Australian Federal Government's key funding body for the Australian screen production industry, created under the ''Screen Australia Act 2008''. From 1 July 2008 Screen Australia took over the functions of its predecess ...

, Screen West, Screen NSW, Tourism WA, and Fulcrum Media Finance. Shooting took 31 days in August–September 2011 in southwest Western Australia.

Box office

The film was released in Australia in early 2013. On its opening weekend, it earned $268,570 at the box office, making an average of $1,918 across 140 screens.

Film festivals

* Official selection Hamptons Film Festival 2013 * Official selection Newport Beach Film Festival 2013 * Official selection Maui International Film Festival 2013 * Official selection Rincon International Film Festival 2013

Awards

Critical response

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Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 32% based on 19 reviews, with an average rating of 4.65/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 35 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally unfavourable reviews". However, some Australian critic's responses were positive.