Tribeca 2021: The Novice Review

This will be one of several reviews from this year’s Tribeca film Festival. To follow our coverage, click here.

Since the beginning of time, some people are willing to go to great lengths in order to achieve success. Over time, that definition of success has consistently changed, meaning different things to different people from different societies. Meanwhile, countless films have chronicled that pursuit of success which suffice it to say have gone in many directions. The Novice is another film in this ilk and it is definitely an intense one. To the film’s credit, this character study is intense but not in a way that goes too far and loses viewers though it’s impossible to always keep everyone on board as viewers will find themselves empathizing with the film’s main character without necessarily agreeing with her actions in achieving her goals. Led by a stellar lead performance from Isabelle Fuhrman, the film is a darn and unnerving yet compelling ride through a disturbed albeit understandably so psyche.

The Novice follows Alex Dill (Fuhrman), a college freshman who joins her university’s rowing team before embarking on a perilous journey to make it to the top varsity boat no matter what the cost. Her pursuit for the top took a toll on her not only physically or psychologically as she pushed herself beyond her limits, competing with and against and alienating her teammates and the other people around her. In the end, all of that didn’t matter to Alex. Consumed by success, she still had a support system but they could only do so much. Those moments where Alex was so consumed and in her own head were unnerving to watch with the score and cinematography matching that energy though what truly sealed that feeling of dread was Fuhrman’s performance to pull viewers in to Alex’s state of mind. Becoming increasingly unhinged, it was unclear how far she would really go and that unpredictability only added to the tension. In some strange way, one couldn’t help but still root for her success in spite of everything else when contrasted with the cutthroat world she was trying to enter.

As far as the The Novice is concerned, come for the Isabelle Fuhrman performance and stay for the vision of a promising writer/director.

still courtesy of Tribeca

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.