The Novice review – Whiplash-like sports drama is lacklustre and derivative

A college freshman is pushed to the brink of mental and physical collapse as she fights to join the varsity rowing team in The Novice, a film that struggles to find a unique voice within the hallowed halls of the sports underdog genre. Taking the well-trodden ground of a longshot fighting their way to the top but failing to fend off tired tropes, Lauren Hadaway’s debut feature is helped only by a fiercely committed performance by lead actress Isabelle Fuhrman.

Fuhrman stars as protagonist Alex, who is determined to challenge herself at her new school no matter the cost on her social life and studies. Frenetic editing and claustrophobic angles mirror Alex’s jangling nerves and jittery psyche as she pushes herself to her limits; she quickly draws the ire of fellow competitor Jamie (Amy Forsyth) and the concern of new girlfriend Dani (Dilone) as she falls prey to the obnoxious and tempestuous traits that arise during her hellbent quest.

The film is comprised of drab, desaturated colours that reflect Alex’s dingy surroundings of darkened boathouses and murky dawn lakes – but the film is so poorly lit that it’s nigh on impossible at times to see what is happening, a perma-squint necessary to make out what these dark, moving shapes on-screen are even doing. Coupled with a liberal use of shallow focus, the film struggles to establish a sense of place in its fast-moving and anonymous-looking locations.

First-time director Lauren Hadaway began her film career in sound departments, and one credit that sticks out is Whiplash. When the vibe of The Novice can be boiled down to “what if Whiplash but rowing,” one can’t help but feel that she was perhaps a little too inspired by it (Black Swan, another obsessed-to-the-point-of-mental-collapse narrative that The Novice cribs from, which the director has said is one of her favourite movies). While the sound design is distinctive, it sometimes feels trite and overbearing: lots of overlapping voices, as a symbol for our protagonist having a lot on her mind, does not a sophisticated metaphor make. The inclusion of numerous Great American Songbook-esque crooner songs also feel completely jarring considering the film’s look and feel.

Fuhrman is very good at channeling a required vicious intensity, but her character is so poorly written that these scenes can’t truly light a spark, no matter their friction. Alex’s stubborn opacity is more frustrating than fascinating; we know so little about her character that she comes across as just your average student cracking under the pressure of balancing studies with a passion or hobby, completely diluting the sense of urgency the film wants us to feel. Why should the stakes feel high when we don’t even know what the stakes are? We have no idea what is actually motivating Alex and her indefatigable determination to succeed beyond an assumed obsessive personality type.

With repetitive scenes that are cut, scored and acted almost identically ad nauseam – oh look, she’s angrily rowing again – it's easy to lose patience with this pursuit of success. When it is revealed, rather crudely, that she has been self-harming, the emotional payoff feels short-changed because of her hitherto interiority. Between hamstrung metaphors of lightning storms and trite drowned-in-sweat training montages, the feeling prevails that this all would have been far more effective as a short.

The Novice is released in UK cinemas on 1 April.