The Novice

Alex is a college freshman who joins her university's rowing team and undertakes an obsessive physical and psychological journey to make it to the top varsity boat, no matter the cost.

'The Novice' is an incredibly engrossing film, I would compare it to stories set on obsession, search for perfection, and competition, like Black Swan or Wihiplash.

Lauren Hadaway did a great job with this directorial debut creating a very tense and engrossing environment for the story to develop. Alex clearly shows signs of OCD, with actions that depict her intrusive thoughts, her obsessions which drive her to compulsion in her sport, and Hadaway captures it in a hectic and intense ways, you really feel like you are in her brain. The cinemanography is fantastic, the landscapes and the close-ups are some of my favourite elements of it capturing both the isolation and the overwhelming nature of Alex's compulsion.

Isabelle Fuhrman is great as the lead, she an actress I haven't follow as much since her debut in Orphan, but I will definitely check out what she has been up to in the last few years. Her characters is complex, you feel sorry for her, you cheer for her as you meet other characters because you empathize with the story she is telling you, even understanding the destructive nature of her behaviour... but there is a lot more to more to it than you expect from the start.

Maybe I expected a more tragic or explosive ending for the type of story, but I am glad the writer took a more realistic approach to the story.

Highly recommend this film.

Channeling a bit of Whiplash in its tale of obsession & compulsion, The Novice is raw, intense & gripping when it gets the combination right and is propelled by a thoroughly committed act from its leading lady. It is competently crafted & expertly shot yet what prevents the film from soaring to better heights is its lack of restraint, for it overdoes style to a point that it becomes overbearing.

Written & directed by Lauren Hadaway in her directorial debut, the film's damp & darkly lit set pieces provide a grittiness & perspiring feel to the story and the drizzly atmosphere & piercing score only amp it up further. Through her protagonist, Hadaway deftly captures the danger of ambition turning into obsession but being a novice at feature filmmaking herself, she does get carried away a few times.

What at first seemed like a motivational story of drive, determination & endurance paving way for success soon turns into a physical & psychological nightmare as our lead character goes to extreme lengths in pursuit of her goals. And Isabelle Fuhrman's strenuous & stressful input renders her inner anguish & unhealthy fixation with startling fidelity. It sure is disturbing & worrisome to watch but it's also the film's highlight.

Overall, The Novice makes for a riveting, thrilling & cold-hearted portrait of a young woman's all-consuming journey to the top and despite a few shortcomings of its own makings, it starts the debutant director's filmmaking career on a promising note. Fuhrman really gets under the skin of her neurotic character to deliver an impressive performance that steers this story past the finish line. And she single-handedly makes it worth the price of admission.

Legs, body, arms, so many things to harm, when you're obsessive and compulsive and you're not close to being calm.

Turbulent times for an overly dedicated student who's pinned her hopes to the varsity mast, intent on going solo, to hell with the personal cost as she swims against the tide.

I didn't know much about the sport of rowing and this depiction of the Ginormous amount of blood, sweat, tears, dedication and sacrifice of these athletes left me awestruck!! :O It was a well done story, that cuts to the bone and sad to see the extreme obsession of the main character and a trip and stumble down the rabbit hole into crazytown.

Half way thru watching I remembered what that B*TCH that played Aunt Becky on Full House did to get her daughter into a college that the kid didn't even want to go to. Photo shopping her into rowing equipment and such. Stealing a spot from a REAL and DESERVING Athlete, who loves the sport and maybe needing a scholarship to be able to even go to college. MAkes me SICK!!! Sorry, but her and her husband shoulda got WAY MORE JAIL time.

I tip my hat to the REAL women athletes that compete in this sport, because it sure ain't for Sissys!! :O I felt sore and out of breath just watching them!

Definitely worth a watch!!

So many visual cues, the cutting, the scars, and by her own admission, the main character discloses that she had been on a mental health hold via 5150. So not so much as rowing the sport, but a vehicle for acting out. It could've been another similar sport, but rowing as arduous as seen in this film Allows a mentally unstable person to put in motion her demise. Watching this character spiral metaphorically cutting those around her and watching the actress, portraying the behavior and symptoms is some thing special for us all to see so visually, pieces of ourselves teetering on the edge of self destruction. This is a must see for those seeking possibly a portrayal of contemporary mental health issues dismissed in everyday life.