Surge *** (2020, Ben Whishaw, Ellie Haddington, Ian Gelder, Jasmine Jobson) – Movie Review

Director Aneil Karia’s 2020 British drama film Surge stars Ben Whishaw, Ellie Haddington, Ian Gelder and Jasmine Jobson. It is based on a screenplay by Aneil Karia, Rupert Jones and Rita Kalnejasis.

Ben Whishaw stars as Joseph, a security officer at Stansted airport, who has a total mental meltdown over 24 hours in his home city of London. The film is not easy to watch, or sit through. Human disintegration is hardly an attractive prospect. It is something we would want to look away from. Though vaguely promoted as a thriller, Surge is not a thriller in any way. There is hardly a story of any kind, it is just a series of increasingly disturbing incidents on the film’s way to its inevitably tragic conclusion. It starts full on, and there is no way out.

The main role is quite a challenge for an actor, but Whishaw is up for it, producing the kind of startling tour-de-force that makes the film memorable. Whishaw shows what a good actor he is, and this film is valuable for that, maybe for that alone. There are other actors in the film, but you hardly notice them, though Ellie Haddington as Joseph’s mother Joyce and Ian Gelder as Joseph’s father Alan get a few choice moments.

Stuart Bentley’s in-your-face shaky cam is not easy on the eye but it brings immediacy and vibrancy to the film, as well as fragrant London and Stansted atmosphere, keeping it real. His cameras are certainly in Whishaw’s face, and it is brave of the actor to be photographed so harshly. Keeping it real it may be, but Surge hardly plays realistically. You can’t rob banks with a banana for a gun. You just can’t.

The film does not seem to be making any points. There are no explanations and no conclusions. The character of Joseph is just there on screen, and we have to make of it what we will. The hard work has been done by Whishaw and now the hard work is left up the viewer. For a film so in your face, that is very subtle. Rather than a thriller or a drama, Surge seems like a poetic metaphor for our times.

It needs attention at awards time. Certainly Whishaw’s performance needs some attention.

It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 26 January 2020 and was released in the UK by Vertigo Releasing on 28 May 2021.

The cast are Ben Whishaw as Joseph, Ellie Haddington as Joseph’s mother Joyce, Ian Gelder as Joseph’s father Alan, Jasmine Jobson as Lily, Laurence Spellman as Scott, Ryan McKen as Emre, Muna Otaru as Adaeze, Bradley Taylor as Patrick, Ranjit Singh Shubh as Jonathon, Chris Coghill as Hamish (Best Man) and  Clare Joseph as Sarah (Bride).

 © Derek Winnert 2021 Movie Review

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