The Novice (2021)

Directed by Lauren Hadaway. Starring Isabelle Fuhrman, Jonathan Cherry, Dilone, Amy Forsyth, Kate Drummond. [R]

College freshman and novice rower Alex Dall (Fuhrman) reveals herself quickly to be an obsessive competitor, spending nearly every waking hour fighting to work her way to the top of the varsity squad, sacrificing tentative friendships and romances and her own health and well-being along the way. Writing/directing newcomer Lauren Hadaway treats the sports drama formula like it’s a dark thriller, using sound, image and unhinged performance to make the protagonist’s journey compulsively watchable and psychologically compelling despite limited information and reasoning being offered. It’s so tonally specific—Hadaway is, if nothing else, self-assured in her vision—and shot, cut and scored like a grueling sportswear commercial, it almost comes off as macabre satire, even flirting with a few horror tropes (casting the laser-focused Fuhrman, best known for her horror-styled black comedy breakthrough in Orphan, probably isn’t a “fortunate accident” on this count). Inspired by the filmmaker’s own experiences on a collegiate women’s rowing team.

79/100