X
- 2021
- R
- IFC Films
- 1 h 37 m
- 2021
- R
- IFC Films
- 1 h 37 m
Summary An obsessive novice rower climbs the ranks of her cutthroat university's team, pushing herself to physical and mental extremes in her quest to become the best.
Directed By: Lauren Hadaway
Written By: Lauren Hadaway
- 2021
- R
- IFC Films
- 1 h 37 m
- 2021
- R
- IFC Films
- 1 h 37 m
The Novice
6.6
Where to Watch
Summary An obsessive novice rower climbs the ranks of her cutthroat university's team, pushing herself to physical and mental extremes in her quest to become the best.
Directed By: Lauren Hadaway
Written By: Lauren Hadaway
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
85
94% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
6% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
85
94% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
6% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
It’s not surprising to learn that its writer and director, Lauren Hadaway, who based this film on her own experiences on a college rowing team, has a background in sound editing.
Fuhrman’s performance matches the filmmaking for its intensity. The movie achieves a surreal allure — at times, it’s hard to pay attention to the dialogue because the images and the sound design are already communicating so much.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 28 User Ratings
6.6
71% Positive
20 Ratings
20 Ratings
11% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
18% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 28 User Ratings
6.6
71% Positive
20 Ratings
20 Ratings
11% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
18% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
'The Novice' is a high-tension psychological drama that submerges us into the world of high-competition rowing to show us how a college girl obsessed with the sport is willing to sacrifice everything to succeed.
This is a great debut for Lauren Hadaway, who amazes with her remarkable ability to direct Isabelle Fuhrman (of 'Orphan' fame), also great in a demanding and complex role in which the writer/director emphasizes how success can also lead to self-destruction.
It's evident that Hadaway got carried away on many occasions by style since the blurring, the frantic editing, and the slow-motion scenes kind of distract you from the story. Either way, this makes the film visually exquisite.
Comparisons with 'Black Swan' and 'Whiplash' are inevitable, but what distinguishes 'The Novice' is a character who, without external pressure, decides to push himself to the brink.
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The Novice does to rowing what Black Swan did to ballet. An overwhelmingly stressful look into the world of rowing and the effect it can have on one’s life and mental health. College freshman Alex Dall (Isabelle Fuhrman) joins the university’s rowing team in order to gain a chance at getting a scholarship. Alex’s competitive nature and desperate need to be the best both academically and as part of the rowing team quickly turns to obsession which then takes its toll on her, physically and mentally.
Straight away it needs to be said that The Novice is not going to be for everyone. It feels very real and authentic, a deep dive look into the world of rowing. It’s expertly directed by Lauren Hadaway with a stunning performance from Isabelle Fuhrman. At times you do forget you’re watching an actual film here and it feels completely real. This of course only adds to the level of stress and building pressure for the entire film. There is a constant sense of dread for a lot of the film and it’s probably not the right thing to watch for anyone considering getting into rowing. It’s almost frustrating to watch as you see Alex putting herself through this, losing herself in the obsessive drive to be the best whatever the cost. You almost want to jump into the screen and scream at her to stop. A very impressive directorial debut by Lauren Hadaway.
The Novice certainly won’t be to everyone’s tastes, it’s an incredibly stressful watch and not one I’d particularly want to see again as I felt quite drained after it. Best recommended for anyone who liked the look of the trailer.
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The escapism on offer here isn’t of a light and airy nature but instead provides insight into the darker, obsessive aspects of the human experience.
Hadaway paints a deep portrait of mental struggles that soon overflow onto the main character’s body, from the peeling bloody skin of her hands to her slashed ribs.
Fuhrman’s performance is so unhinged, and Hadaway’s direction is so merciless, that The Novice constantly dances on the edge of character drama and full-fledged horror movie. It’s an impressive feat of incisively dark tone, even if the plot and characters are little more than shadows.
Fuhrman’s polished intensity draws us in, even if we’re repelled a bit by this young woman who will not give herself “a break,” at anything.
It’s hard to deny Fuhrman’s pinch-faced vehemence and the film’s hallucinatory verve.
Writer-director Lauren Hadaway's debut feature is the kind of picture that I describe as "Look Ma, No Hands" filmmaking, a movie in which a wide array of photographic, narrative and atmospheric elements are all haphazardly thrown together to showcase the creator's range but ending up with a finished product that's scattered, unfocused and largely incoherent. This cryptic tale of a perfectionist student athlete spends its first half endlessly depicting this overblown character trait but offering precious little in terms of motivation or back story. This makes for a mystifying, tiresome and boring exercise that tries to prop itself up with gimmicky editing and an exhausting yet unsatisfying narrative. The film attempts to compensate for this in its back half by finally filling in some of the missing pieces, but, by that point, given the prior lack of engagement, it's difficult to muster much interest or enthusiasm for what's playing out. To its credit, the picture does feature some inventive cinematography, but that's window dressing that's undercut by all of the foregoing issues, not to mention a fundamentally odd idiom for exploring its central subject matter and an eclectic soundtrack that often feels weirdly out of place. I really have to wonder what the director was aiming for here, but most of it doesn't add up, leaving viewers with more muddle than riddle. Yet more proof of what an awful movie year 2021 was.
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The utter stylishness of the Novice will generate a lot of buzz but that's ultimately it's biggest downfall. I love movies that want to go someplace raw and not hold back. The Novice goes there but with so much frenetic camerawork and montage after montage it seems more like a music video. Movies like this actually end up suffocating it's characters rather than fleshing them out completely. Alex's dialogue is great but she rarely gets to speak or have conversations. The overabundance of cuts never lets a scene speak for itself, constantly only giving the audience flashes. Unfortunately it seems like a lot of b-roll. The ending sputters as if to say "We've put you through the ringer already. Roll credits."
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As much as I wanted to like it, I just couldn't get into it. I think the most obvious flaw is how frequently the film pads for time. It's 90 minutes and it easily could have been cut 15-20 minutes. There's a lot of stalling throughout with needless scenes featuring the main character quietly contemplating or suffering. Maybe doing this once or twice would be fine but it happens way too frequently.
This padding also highlights how little depth the story has. If you want to hit the feature-length runtime, flesh out the other characters a bit more. Don't make them feel like shallow stand-ins.
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Very painful to watch, so I couldn't make it past the third of the movie. The neurosis of the main character is not only heavy-handedly (in a bad Aronofsky-ish style) but also repetitively illustrated. Too bad, I'm a quite recent rower myself and would have liked to watch a decent movie on the topic. This one is definitely not one of them...
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I'm a lifelong competitive rower and I'll be honest, I found this movie a bit dull. She's extracted all the negative parts of rowing and focused entirely on those, leaving out all the joy of rowing. The the movie seems to focus on erg training more than actual rowing. I also found the soundtrack ridiculous - you've got horror-movie strings for all the tense moments, then some anachronistic 50's kitsch for the actual erg pieces. Doesn't jibe with my experience at all. If you want to check out an utterly amazing rowing movie watch "Losing Sight of Shore" about four Englishwomen who row across the Pacific Ocean. Each one has her own cellphone camera and the boat is only about 30 feet long so the footage is intimate and at times, incredibly painful to watch - in other words, a true film about Rowing.
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Production Company
Picture Movers Anonymous,
H2L Media Group,
ZNZ Productions
Release Date Dec 17, 2021
Duration 1 h 37 m
Rating R
Awards
Film Independent Spirit Awards
• 5 Nominations
Tribeca Film Festival
• 3 Wins & 3 Nominations
Sidewalk Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
