“Eat the rat!!!” : Nicolas Cage will be released in Cannes in 2024 and it will be memorable!

Obviously, these Coppolas are (geniusly) crazy. While his uncle, Francis Ford Coppola, presented his Megalopolis at Cannes on Thursday evening, with formal and narrative experiments that will leave no one indifferent, his nephew Nicolas Cage (born Nicolas Coppola) offered festival-goers a memorable midnight screening this Friday evening.

Obviously very happy to finally be back on the Croisette after twenty-four years “A Little Film Called The Sailor and the Barrel by David Lynch”Nicolas Cage is a surfer. Fronted by Lorcan Finnegan (revealed by Vivarium), he plays, according to the feature’s official synopsis, a father who “Returns to an idyllic childhood beach to surf with his son: their escape turns into a nightmare when a local surfer gang forbids them from entering the ocean; humiliated and threatened, a father must fight to reclaim his territory and his son’s respect”.

Beach parking hell

on the surface Surfer It seems to be leading to a revenge film, an approach that is ultimately very suitable for a midnight screening on the Croisette, traditionally reserved for genre films (Army of the Dead, Last Train to Busan, The Maniac, Bloody Father…). Revenge + Nicolas Cage: In short, the perfect cocktail for tonight’s show. However, it was a completely different show that was offered to the audience at the Grand Théâtre Lumière.

There is no revenge Surfer. or a little. On the other hand, it’s a crazy journey for the main character. A veritable descent into hell under the unrelenting Australian sun, as he refuses to leave the beach car park and continues to wander the tarmac to retrieve a board stolen by surfers or wait for a hypothetical phone call guaranteeing a real estate loan.

Free Fall + Point Break = Surfer

Result ? A true waking nightmare, hallucinations and hallucinations, in which Nicolas Cage pushes the “handles” to the limit and recalls the iconic interpretation of “The Wicker Man”. Internet memes with huge potential! To illustrate the madness of his anti-hero, Lorcan Finnegan engages in many formal experiments, be it pherometry, editing, camera effects or working with images that seem to sway under the influence of madness and heat.

The Irish filmmaker also manages, and this is one of the strengths of the feature film, to make the ambient temperature palpable. Nicolas Cage is hot. Very hot. It is difficult to move, he is thirsty, he sweats. And we with him. The film is suffocating and sticky, as Que Dios Nos Perdone (2017) or Free Fall (1993) can be. The latter reference is also central, as The Surfer is located at the film’s (supposed) intersection with Michael Douglas, Point Break and the Australian New Wave of the 70s, particularly reminiscent of Ted Kotchef’s Wake in Fright.

There’s also a bit of Fight Club in Surfer. At least from Tyler Durden. The group of surfers “Bay Boys”, located somewhere between a masculinist gang and a sect, under the command of its charismatic wave guru Julian McMahon (ex-Charmed / Nip/Tuck / FBI), thus recalls the unhealthy cult that David Fincher illustrated around. Nihilistic character figure portrayed by Brad Pitt in 1999.

In front of him, and in the face of this toxic boy club that continues to harass him, Nicolas Cage sinks deeper every minute, mentally and physically, until he becomes a tramp (aka “bomb” in the local dialect) from the beach sleeping in a wrecked car, digging through garbage cans, in a puddle of beer Drinking on the ground or eating a rat.

“Eat the rat!!!”

Without revealing too much, the rat sequence will undoubtedly remain the highlight of this 77th Cannes Film Festival. Not so much because of the disgust it might cause, but because of the exclamation given by Nic Cage when he stabs a rodent in the throat of one of the surfers whose meltdown he has a secret about. “Eat the rat!!!” The room literally erupted in tears and applause at these images, of course filled with the knowledge that the actor was also enjoying his incredible interpretation and taking part in the show from the chair.

After six wonderful minutes of standing ovation, the star, very touched by the greeting, took the microphone to the cheers of the festival-goers to call it unforgettable. “Eat the rat!!! Eat the rat!!!” (Somewhat approximate, but nice translation “Eat the rat!!!” (a film suggested by Thierry Frémaux and his team when Nicolas Cage asked how to pronounce the line in French). The sequence can be seen below:

Beyond the WTF exchange between Nick Cage and the Cannes crowd, did festival-goers defend the proposal Surfer. Not at all, if we are to believe the contrary opinions shared on X/Twitter. In any case, it will remain the iconic Midnight Session.

“A gentle madness that’s more about barbaric comedy than horror, Lorcan Finnegan’s #TheSurfer plunges Nicolas Cage in fine form into a hallucinatory and sticky nightmare as he faces off against a toxic gang of masked surfers whom he intends to eat sand and rats.”

“Lorcan Finnegan’s #thesurfer is crazy. Every time you think it won’t get crazier, it does. The film does Nicolas Cage justice and spawns endless memes. Audiences love it and rightfully so. Another win for Lorcan Finnegan.”.

“Nicolas Cage Mascu blew up surfers before he had to eat a dead rat: It was supposed to be a new nugget in the actor’s generous collection, but #TheSurfer struggles to survive beyond its core idea: a closed door open.” Wet fire extinguisher. “

“A little nightmare, never disturbing, barely funny and totally harmless #TheSurfer, a little hallucinatory trip where Nicolas Cage loses his mind under the dry Australian sun in front of a degenerate mask.

“What I remember from my session of #TheSurfer was the standing ovation which was great. I didn’t like the movie itself, despite the presence of Nicolas Cage and the very nice visuals. It goes in circles and is quite disappointing.

“Despite the good promise of a regressive B-series, #TheSurfer quickly runs on empty and fails to appreciate Nicolas Cage’s contagious energy, still Lorcan Finnegan’s only shining moment!”

“#TheSurfer (2024) pays homage to exploitation cinema with its credits font and outrageous staging effects, the initial premise is silly enough to offer regressive entertainment, but gets lost in its history, despite Nicolas Cage’s historical works.

After “Twilight Warriors”, #Cannes2024 was saved by its midnight screening: “The Surfer” is a pleasant B series, an LSD version of the remake of “The Wicker Man” with Nicolas Cage and the already iconic copy: “Eat a rat!!!”

“The Surfer was the most fun I’ve had at Cannes so far. A sunny psychedelic homage to Australian new wave that veers between dark comedy, psychological thriller and Nicolas Cage’s patented crazy antics. The crowd chanted ‘The movies are back!'”