194.
Adrift
I didn't know much going into this movie at all and after seeing it twice, new things came to light and a lot more was noticed once I had already known the ending. The movie introduced us to a relatively unknown cast that would loosely tell us the true story about two young sailors, tasked with taking a friend's sailboat across the Pacific Ocean. The film brings us Shailene Woodley playing Tami Oldham an American who is avid not to go home and keep travelling. The male lead is played by Sam Claflin, who's named Richard Sharpe. Will this leave us wanting to set sail or could it be a sinking ship from the start?
The movie begins underwater and we see ropes, equipment and even a person in a yellow coat with a red beacon, sink to the depths of the ocean. Going above the water, we get introduced to Tami, battered and bruised she is waking in the cabin section of a sailboat, struggling to get her bearings and get out onto the upper deck. Finally getting to sunlight, we see the extent of the damage as she yells for Richard before the screen turns dark. We are sent to a few months before and a well looking Tami has made landfall on Tahiti after working on a large sailboat.
She has entered to stay for an uncertain time, finding a job and meeting new people, one of who is Richard, who pulls up on his own sailboat and instantly there is a spark. The story carries on back and fore, being on the boat and watching Tami's struggles and then flipping back to weeks before and watching her and Richard's relationship flourish. We learn about their backstories and problems with their parents before facing the problems that are now ahead of them. Tami starts to rebuild the boat as best she can and gather us what food and water she has left, that's until she can see something in the distance. It's the little boat that was once on the sailboat itself and there, clinging to it for his dear life, is Richard. She ties herself to the main boat and heads out to swim for him, dragging him back on board and inspecting his injuries. His legs I pretty bad, at least one snap and huge gashes, along with him mentioning that his ribs are broken too.
We are then back to the mainland and their decision to go sailing in the first place. Richard bumps into some old friends and they offer him to sail their boat back to San Diego for money and a free upper-class trip back to the island. He says he'll do it if Tami can have a seat too, as now they are official. This older couple agrees to the terms and invite them aboard to have a meal before they set sail. I recognise this old bloke from Spartacus the TV series, so there's at least one familiar face for me. He isn't in it long though and the young couple has set sail on their adventure. Tami was really apprehensive at first because she is from San Diego and was not ready to return home. Back on the destroyed boat, she has rounded up some cans of sardines, some beer and even got the water tank working again for fresh water. She is doing everything she can for Richard's wounds and keeping him awake, whilst also trying to keep herself sane. She has rebuilt the main sail and made her own device in order to find herself some land. She is aiming for Hawaii, which Richard is really worried about seeing that it is such a small island compared to sailing onwards to mainland America.
We are still unsure as to what happened to cause the destruction but surely it was a storm. She has made an attempt at fishing, but taken her frustration out on Richard and has even managed to free the rudder from the sails that were wrapped around it. The film swaps back to the past, with the two sailing away and Richard playing some music for Tami on his guitar before she asks him about his mother. She committed suicide but he still thinks of her giving him some advice before he proposes to Tami with a man-made ring. She says yes to this whirlwind relationship and they consummate the engagement. The next morning, they are on the deck and Tami is meditating but in the background, she can see some very dark clouds. Richard in downstairs listening to the radio and some warnings about the route that they are taking. Looking stern, he quickly decides to sail around the storm, hoping that by the time they get to it, he has settled somewhat.
Back to the present once more, Richard is getting a lot worse. Tami doesn't look great either, clear malnourished, sunburnt and dehydrated, she lies with Richard who gives her the talk to go on. He must know that his end is near. She sits on the steps, singing to him the song that he once sang to her but she refuses to give up and is determined to make it to Hawaii. You watch this woman slowly unravelling and losing herself and her hope and I'm thinking to myself whether everything is as it seems. I have seen enough movies now to realise some things before others in the audience might but I'll keep it to myself for now. We head back to the past and are nearly all caught up now as we see Richard battling the storm. donning a yellow waterproof outfit and sending Tami below deck as he was about to take on a wave that was ridiculous.
I honestly couldn't imagine what would be going through their minds at that moment. He gets thrown around onto the equipment, which clearly would have given him his injuries, before throwing him overboard. We are back with Tami laying down with him, explaining how sorry she is that she couldn't help him and that she has to let him go. Now for many, they may be thinking that she is ready for him to die. Not me. I don't think he was ever saved! We saw a guy sink in the beginning in the yellow outfit and maybe she was imagining him being there because she was struggling so much. As she lifts her head up, Richard has vanished and every scene that we have already witnessed after the wreck is quickly replayed, without Richard ever being there. All she has is his jumper and the smell that comes with it. She dusts herself off for one last push before finally seeing some land in the distance and being spotted herself after letting off a flare. This time, it isn't a hallucination as we have already seen her have. One being Richard and another quick one of her seeing a cargo ship sail by them. This time, she truly is saved and is towed back to land with a fresh apple in her hand. A little time passes before she looks healthier, stepping foot onto Richards boat and looking at the pictures they took together and the memories that they made. Breaking down in tears as a sad song plays. The movie ends with the real Tami on our screen and some snippets out of newspaper articles about her survival and pictures of her and Richard. It really hits home how harrowing and remarkable this story is as Tami is still sailing all around the world, enjoying her life once more and making the most of her time. Richard was never found.
This was a very harrowing story of how cruel the sea can be. To start with the portrayal of Tami by Woodley, you could go through every emotion with her. It went from the happiness of her freedom on land and on the waves, to her absolute most vulnerable. It was acted out very well and Woodley has won plaudits from all over from her presence on the screen. It's quite hard to act when you're on the screen alone for so long, without dialogue to keep the audience interested but this was never the case. With the storyline keeping you intrigued on how it was going to end and whether Richard was going to make it, made this shorter runtime movie into something that always kept you gripped. The way that it used flashbacks in order to set the scene for every part of the story that was coming was very clever. It was a little predictable at times but then again what are you meant to do with a story that is based on true events. I could see the main twist coming but for those who didn't, I can imagine that it was a very sad shock for the audience. The frantic camera angles and cinematography, along with the moments of silence only added to the suspense for this underrated movie that I really enjoyed.
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