Thin and squirrelly, with eyes ablaze, Whishaw lacks Pattinson’s force of charisma, but that accentuates the ways in which “Surge,” like “Good Time,” is examining Joseph’s white privilege as a literal carte blanche, enabling then abetting his spree. Much like Pattinson’s Connie, Joseph uses and abuses the non-white characters of “Surge”—of whom there are many in a diverse metropolitan hub such as London—as a means to an end, whether threatening bank and shop personnel or abruptly making a sexual advance on his colleague in her kitchen. (She doesn’t turn him down, but it’s hardly appropriate and feels insidiously transactional.)
The filmmakers seem conscious that maintaining such tight focus on Joseph, whose rallying cry of “I’m so f**king tired!” makes him less special than he realizes, might be seen as validating his destructive solipsism. Late in the picture, when a hip-hop track blares through a car’s speakers and Indian dancers occupy a street corner in Joseph’s line of sight, he finally experiences some relief from all this psychic pain—through the act of observing something other than himself.
At one point, Joseph makes his way through a wedding party, then to a hotel room, which he trashes before slitting open the mattress and getting inside, as if crawling back into the womb. Joseph’s “surge” signals his regression to a more primitive nature; sensing the Pyrrhic nature of this break with reality, and the heat around the corner, does he here wish to complete the process and be unborn? “Surge” periodically traffics in this kind of symbolism, but rarely to its benefit. The immediacy of its approach prevents the film from effectively exploring such ideas, and “Surge” is unconvincing the more it reaches for broader commentary on the inhumanity of modern society. Still see this film, but see it for what it is: a ferocious showcase for Whishaw, who’s never been nervier, and a promising first feature from a filmmaker with energy to spare.
Now playing in theaters and available on demand.
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