Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Matthew Losasso
Starring: Bella Dayne, Sophie Skelton, Akshey Khanna, Tam Dean-Burn, Mark Strepan
Row is a survival thriller in which we know from the off just who survives. It's a murder mystery in which it's unclear who the murderer is, or whether there actually was a murder. With his feature debut, writer/director Matthew Losasso (working with co-writer Nick Skaugen) has taken the British whodunit out of its traditional country manor setting and set it on the stormy high seas.
The movie opens with images of a small boat, its deck covered in blood, and a body lying face down as a young woman wields a knife. We then cut to said knife-wielder, Megan (Bella Dayne), waking up in a guest house on a remote island off Scotland. A police detective (Tam Dean Burn) is waiting to question Megan, but her memory is either blurred or she's conveniently forgetting the events that lead to her being washed ashore, seemingly the sole survivor of a failed attempt to break the world record for a trans-Atlantic yacht crossing.
Through extended flashbacks we see what really transpired. Megan and her teammates Daniel (Akshay Khanna), Lexi (Sophie Skelton) and Mike (Nick Skaugen) set sail from Newfoundland in a tiny boat, hoping to reach Ireland in record time. The trip hits a snag early on when the rudder fails, a hairband having been suspiciously snagged in the mechanism. Team leader Daniel grows increasingly tyrannical as he feels the rest of his team aren't pulling their weight. Mike, who was a last minute replacement for Lexi's ex-boyfriend Adam (Mark Strepan), suffers severe seasickness, resulting in him waking from his sleep and waving a knife around in a daze before being restrained. Lexi begins to suspect Megan is the other woman she believes Adam was cheating with. Half of the rations have mysteriously disappeared. And the weather is far worse than they imagined.
All of these factors combine to create a climate of psychosis, with the team members turning on one another as they seek someone to blame for their increasingly dire predicament. Losasso combines the "who can be trusted?" paranoia of movies like The Thing and Reservoir Dogs with a seabound survival narrative, and the balancing act is impressively effective. Few filmmakers would willingly subject themselves to such a challenging scenario as shooting on water for their debut, but Losasso braves the elements, resulting in one of the most convincing depictions of sea-faring ever put on screen. If greenscreen is used it certainly had me fooled, as never for a moment did I stop believing that these four people were actually out on the water. Sequences of the boat and its crew battered by giant waves are jaw-dropping in their realism, to the point where you have to wonder how the film secured insurance.
The committed performances of the central quartet add greatly to Row's wind-beaten verisimilitude. Each actor's progression from enthusiastic yachter to paranoid, possibly murderous sociopath is so natural that it feels like the movie was shot chronologically. As the lead Megan, Dayne is particularly impressive as she evolves from a shy young woman to a survivalist who will do anything to ensure she gets out of this scenario alive.
Perhaps the framing device of Megan's grilling by the authorities could have generated more tension, and the mechanics of a late twist are a little questionable. But as a survival thriller that puts as much emphasis on its thriller elements as its survivalist narrative, Row is a gripping and gruelling experience, one kept on course by its promising first time director.
Row screens at the Raindance Film Festival on June 21st and 22nd.
