The Novice Review: Highly Thrilling!

Alex Dall (Isabella Fuhrman) is a college freshman who decides to join her university’s rowing team. She quickly becomes obsessed with making the varsity team and rising to the top of her school’s rowing program, regardless of the physical or emotional consequences. Lauren Hadaway makes her directorial debut with The Novice, a highly mesmerizing and tense film that shook me to my core throughout.

As a lover of a great script and the writing side of filmmaking, directing in a film usually doesn’t have as much of an impact for me as the script does. However, Hadaway’s directing in this film is so apparent that the various shots she uses as she shoots Fuhrman corresponds to the classical music playing and the choices made by the cinematographer to use a constant shade of darkness even in daylight shots.

The film is written in a highly thrilling manner without having to provide explanation as to the specifics of rowing, as it would potentially slow down the film’s progression. It makes no difference the audience’s level of expertise on the sport because between the lines it is apparent the film is not specifically about rowing but instead a girl’s obsession with proving herself in every facet of her life.

Isabella Fuhrman’s performance intensifies every written piece of dialogue and direction as a true young talent in the industry. The college setting choice for the film was spot on, because while watching it I felt the film was digging deep into my own psyche, pulling out my own feelings of stress and mental insomnia in the face of college obstacles years back, as I’m sure it did for others too. I felt anxious watching remembering how difficult it was to balance school, a social life, work, clubs, to the point where I couldn’t imagine the stress of being a student athlete, especially to the extent of Furhman’s character

Teamwork versus individuality plays a huge part in The Novice, as Alex discovers when it comes to your goals, you can not trust anybody to help you besides yourself. I liked how the film explored the concept of collegiate teamwork while ultimately wanting to break barriers individually. Having won the Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival, The Novice will hopefully get picked up by a major studio because this movie deserves to be experienced by as many people as possible!

‘The Novice’ Rating – 4.5/5

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