Freediver

This is a simple story, about a simple but dangerous sport. Freediving. Holding your breath for as long as you can, and decend as deep as you can. The only tricky thing is we're not talking seconds and a few metres, we're talking minutes and over 100m. Mind boggling. This tells the story of Alexey Molchanov, a Russian diver looking to not only reclaim a couple of records he lost after being banned from competition because of his nationality, but winning them back under a neutral flag and adding some more records. Five to be precise, in the main disciplines of the sport. Something never done before by one diver in a single season. Inspired by his mother, whose own story is equally captivating, it's a deeply personal narrative. The underwater photography is pretty stunning and helps punctuate the drama on the surface. There's political turmoil, competitive posturing, it's pretty fascinating. The techniques deployed are as much about the power of the mind as of the body and the tone of the diving sequences plays up to it with a dramatic dreamlike score. It's meditative, zen-like. A story with purity, balance, drive and ambition. Powerful stuff, Alexey is passionate, but so are all the voices here. It's highly emotive, purposefully so and helps give this some real heart alongside the record attempts. It's not perfect, but it sure is breathtaking.

You'd have to really like this 'sport', in order to enjoy this plodding, self-important movie. There is lots & lots & lots of slow motion pretty pictures underwater and above, and an overabundance of artsy verité shots of mundane non-activities, and silly close-ups of ... whatever. That's one indicator of how boring this is, basically an acknowledgement by the filmmakers that the subject of free diving is not compelling on film unless there is tragedy, and that the individual who is the focus is similarly inherently uninteresting.

Again, if you already like free diving, you'll likely enjoy this. If not, you'll likely leave it after a few minutes, with a casual "Meh".

Firstly, I would find it slightly odd if someone were to watch this & not even be remotely interested in the sport of freediving, especially considering the entire film revolves around the sport. Prior to this film, I was semi-interested in the sport, had maybe watched a couple of YouTube clips but that is all. Now I highly like the sport.

Freedivers message is clear. The cinematics were beautiful. The music was perfectly aligned & there was an emotional ride from start to finish. I feel there are many key factors one can take from freediver and implement them into daily life. I was moved by this excellent biography.