SURFER MOM RETURNS TO THE OCEAN

EVERYONE FEELS THE TRAUMA IN THE HOME

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

The idyllic life along the Melbourne coast comes to an abrupt halt for a young Australian family.

Director Glendyn Ivin relies on aesthetic realism to artfully compel the tragic narrative of a surfer mom as she recovers from a spinal cord injury in Penguin Bloom (2021).

Naomi Watts stars as the biopic character Sam Bloom, with Griffin Murray-Johnston, Andrew Lincoln, Essi Murray-Johnston and Felix Cameron as the Bloom family just as traumatized by the accident as the family matriarch.

Glendyn brings the narrative around in a short 95 minute run time with a naturally compelling story of human perseverance. 

Glendyn uses the camera to accent the story with close ups of the actors, several artful scenes and panoramas of the natural beauty that surrounds the seaside bungalow in the coastal suburb.

Watts clearly goes through the various stages of recovery, beginning with grief and depression and then transitioning to helplessness and anger until Bloom turns the corner on despair.

The supporting cast do more than just fill in the background, sharing the screen with poignant emotional moments portraying individual stories about the shared family trauma.

Watts is able to stay away from sentimentalism with the support of her co-stars.

The screenplay has been adapted from a biography about the Bloom family.

The narrative is somewhat linear with the characters having personal flash backs while enduring the trauma of the moment.

Watts also acts through various dream sequences, only to gradually wake up a bit more determined to conquer the struggle of daily life that she must confront every morning.

Glendyn uses a Magpie chic, the family names Penguin, as a metaphor for recovery. Penguin must regain her strength and learn to fly after falling out of her mother’s nest.

The family of young boys adopts Penguin, knowing all along that the wild bird cannot stay with them in the house forever.

Penguin lives in the house for a bit, distracting the family from their pain in seeing their once awesome mother struggle as a paraplegic.

The film is more influenced by life Downunder than Disneyesque themes, although making for a good Sunday afternoon family viewing.

The script keeps the narrative interesting by making several scenes self-referential with the bird and framed family photos on the wall, and Sam and her family showing that the way to continue is by sharing the spirit in the existing relationships, and not giving up on anyone.

The film lacks a bit of sophistication, though, with a very linear narrative, and too shallow a treatment of subplots and parallel narratives.

Penguin Bloom is currently streaming on Netflix.