Dan Castle’s film ‘Newcastle’ from his own screenplay is a solid work of filmmaking, half surfie drama and half conventional drama.

This is the picture! A typical working class Newcastle family; a hard working mum, a grumpy father and three squabbling adolescent sons. There’s disappointment in the family as the eldest son, Victor, was supposed to be the next big thing in surfing but didn’t quite make it. The family are now hoping that middle son, Jesse, will fill the breach, and Victor is in the background, resentful. Things come to a head when Jesse goes away for a surfing weekend with his mates, and Victor and his mates turn up.

There’s a bit of a B grade feel to this movie. The drama is fairly predictable, the performances are solid but unexciting, and one is left wondering how Barry Otto, one of Australia’s leading actors, became involved with the film, playing the boys grandfather.

The glue that holds this film together is the surfing footage, and there’s plenty of it, especially underwater footage, all shot by Richard Michalak.