The Novice

Directed by Lauren Hadaway, The Novice follows Isabelle Fuhrman’s Alex Dall as she develops an obsessive, unhealthy interest in her university’s rowing team. It’s potentially stirring subject matter that’s employed to progressively underwhelming (and flat-out interminable) effect by Hadaway, which is a shame, ultimately, given that the filmmaker, working from her own screenplay, offers up a striking, compelling opening stretch rife with promise – with the engaging atmosphere heightened by Hadaway’s eye-catching visual sensibilities and a searing, intense performance by Fuhrmann. There’s little doubt, then, that The Novice‘s palpable downfall is triggered by an increasingly abstract midsection devoid of compelling attributes, as the picture’s often oppressively spare narrative is exacerbated by a central character that becomes less and less interesting as the film unfolds (ie what’s driving her, exactly?) – which, when coupled with a hopelessly ineffective (and somewhat endless) third act, confirms the movie’s place as an ambitious misfire that just doesn’t work (and feels seriously padded-out at 97 minutes).

* out of ****