Drift makes our attention, well, drift

Drift begins with a young family of three running away from their misogynistic, drunkard father/husband and driving interminably to end up in Western Australia’s Seacliff. They set up camp there in the small country town basically because of the nice surf that boarders the community. I’m not sure why the first twenty minutes is shot in black and white, but this  fades as soon as the boys get surfing in some ripper waves against a 70’s backdrop.

The Kelly family settle and grow older. This is were we meet the two men, Andy (Myles Pollard), Jimmy (Xavier Samuel) and their mother, Kat (Robyn Malcolm). Character selection must’ve been quite tight as Andy and Jimmy now appear to be at least 15 years apart in age now and look nothing alike.

The family sets up shop shifting surf merchandise to local customers who appreciate products that were previously only available internationally, naively stumbling on an industry that today, is worth gazillions.

And this is where the film begins to lose my attention. Even when there are issues with drug dealing and both brothers being interested in the hot Hawaiian surfer babe who is visiting the town, it’s tiresome because everything seems to always work out just fine for everyone. Yawn.

A notable mention must go to Sam Worthington though. Despite not getting his gear off, he adds some comedic relief to this otherwise lackluster film. He hogs all of the one liners, dribbling out cosmic hippy spiel about travelling and being attached to the waves (one that I caught was, “If God surfed, he’d surf here.” Yeah man). Also, the scenes of the boys surfing absolutely mega waves were pretty awesome.

Words by Carol Bowditch.