THE NOVICE TURNS PRO @TRIBECA 2021

Director Lauren Hadaway has had many opportunities to work with the industry’s best in the sound department. This is where she was able to find her footing and help other directors find theirs along the way. She worked tirelessly in the sound department. Her resume speaks volumes after working with Damien Chazelle on “Whiplash”, Zack Snyder’s “Justice League” and Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight.” While finessing the sound for Hollywood’s elite, she was cultivating something on her own. The end result is her first feature film The Novice which took the top prize at the US Narrative Competition at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

Not much was said about this film before the festival began in New York. No one saw this film coming and claiming one of the top prizes at the Tribeca Film Festival. This is better because it changes the expectations of filmgoers and cinephiles. It turns heads for those who are not in the know of this film.

Between tiring shoots of blockbuster films, Hadaway laid the foundation of The Novice. She wrote the film which reflected her times as a college athlete. The trauma and anxiety she was experiencing during her time as a rower were now on paper. It became therapeutic as she wrote about it which brings us to this groundbreaking of a film.

Alex Dall is The Novice

The Novice centres on college student Alex Dall played by Isabelle Fuhrman. She is trying to find her footing as a queer college student or better yet trying to fit in where she belongs. She is a physics major who decides to join the rowing team. Life changes completely for Alex as her new commitment completely turns her world upside down. Day in and day out, she workouts just to work out for the rowing team. She learns this hard discipline and finds her time completely sacred as she devotes most of her time to the sport and her studies. Alex is trying to be the best that she could be by transforming her body and soul into a rower.

The Rowing Club

Rather than taking a Top Gun-like masculine approach to Alex’s climb to rowing, Lauren Hadaway takes another unique approach. The Novice is dark with Fight Club-like tones adding to the thriller that it already is. Everywhere from the underground place where she practices with the team to the sequences where she rows at the crack of dawn all have that tone that this is an everyday battle. Furthermore, the bodies of water that she rows on are seen as the dark enemy to her aspiration to success This element of the film is not complementary to her existence. It is the enemy that she must absorb and sweat out to groom her confidence as a rower.

Chances rise for Alex Dall to join the varsity rowing team. This means more challenges and sacrifices are needed to be made. Her workouts must be at the top of her game. Along with her diet and rest time which all should work for her to become the top rower. Alex’s love for the sport begins to show. Along with her progression as a rower begins to shine amongst this perceived dark sport. The relationships with her coaches such as Coach Pete, played by Jonathan Cherry, or Coach Edwards, played by Kate Drummond, become more intense. She is told to ride the back of the bus because she is a novice by the varsity team. This being part of the initiation hazing process.

The Novice and her relationships

Along the way, Alex builds a queer relationship with her TA Dani, played by Dilone, who sees her in a different light. Alex is always the last one to finish her test as she always looks over her work. She even does this, in the beginning, to cut into the time of Dani’s which totally puzzles her. Although, Alex is just trying to get top marks in her class. The way she does it is not too inviting. Nevertheless, they build a cat and mouse sort of sexual relationship in which Alex again wants to dominate as well. Dani finds this amusing but Alex sees this as something more than serious in finding her other half for the time being.

The obsession of Alex with trying to be number one or the hardest worker on the team starts to make an impact on her. She begins to self-mutilate herself as she sees this as another mandatory sacrifice that requires to get the best possible results. It’s bad enough that her hands are badly wounded from continuous usage. The self-mutilation just paves an already darker road where this obsession is bringer her to delirium or near psychosis.

The Novice Director Lauren Hadaway

This is where directer Lauren Hadaway is at her very best in the film. Having had her proper tools in the sound department before adds depth to the character of Alex. She experiments with Alex’s auditory levels where it’s blurry with water or people trying to communicate with her. The darkness of her obsession becomes clear by hearing things visually. Hadaway does some experimental recording which gives the audience a more framed understanding of what Alex is going through. Riding that wave of obsession and madness is clear as day for Hadaway. Other filmmakers would have lost their audience immediately once they stepped into the cutting room.

The Novice is a film that ironically is from a “novice” director who raises the bar to filmmaking. Her debut feature is fast-paced and sets the tone quite early in the film for what is to follow. The film gives a darker glimpse into the world of rowing where many would think that there is not much to it. But again this shows the intelligence and patience of director Lauren Hadaway. She put in the time into making a film with a universal message from her traumatic experience in sports. The Novice looks like a film from an already established director. If this is Lauren Hadaway’s first installment to the industry, then you can see how she treats time. Just like to the character of Alex Dall, time is precious.