Direction: Lauren Hadaway
Country: USA
Rowing seems a fun sport but not as it is exposed in The Novice, a psychological drama directed by Lauren Hadaway, who worked as a sound editor in Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash (2014). Her first directorial effort is a somewhat sardonic and unsentimental take on obsession and mental disturbance that initially magnetizes and then drops us midway.
The plot centers on Alex Dall (Isabelle Fuhrman), a freshwoman who joins her college’s competitive rowing team. Obsessively determined to be the best, Alex pushes her physical limits at the same time that she embarks on a lesbian romance with her teacher’s assistant, Dani (Dilone).
Hadaway brings it to the point of collapse with an unflagging ability to capture the intriguing protagonist’s mind. It’s what surrounds the central character that fails to give the story a better sequence to its stimulating start. This character study lacks resonance in crucial parts to stick with you after the end.
Still, there's this tightly controlled performance by Fuhrman, who shows to have more acting skills than those demonstrated in Orphan (2009). This year, she was also featured in The Last Thing Mary Saw, a period horror flick directed by the debutant New York-based Italian director Edoardo Vitaletti.
The technical aspects are generally favorable, but if the photography enchants with its dusky hues, then the score, which plays a big role in setting the shadowy atmosphere, feels more invasive than assisting.
