Movie Review: 'The Novice' A Sports Movie About the Obsession with Being the Best

Obsessive, compulsive, driven, damaged, out of control, these are some of the ways I could describe the protagonist of the new movie, The Novice. Played by Isabelle Fuhrman, Alex Dall, the protagonist of The Novice, is obsessed with everything she does. Having deemed herself less than others she makes up for her perceived deficiencies by outworking everyone around her with methodical tendencies bordering on insanity. Whether in academics, sex, or sports, Alex’s crazed determination is both impressive and terrifying.

Having earned a scholarship to college, Alex finds herself in need of something to keep her motivated. She chooses the hardest thing that she can find, the women’s rowing team. If you aren’t familiar with rowing, it’s one of the most grueling and time consuming sports imaginable. The average person doesn’t join a rowing team. Rowing is a calling for people, an obsession that gets passed down from generation to generation.

The crazy thing about Alex is that rowing is not a calling for her. She joined the team specifically for the challenge. She needs something desperately punishing to keep her going. As Alex explains to a new romantic partner, Dani (Dilone), she’s never been gifted at anything, her drive comes from working so hard that she nearly kills herself just so she can prove herself better than people who are gifted. It’s a strange and off-putting trait but one that is fascinating to observe.

It’s especially fascinating as captured by first time feature director Lauren Hadaway, who also penned the screenplay for the film. In Hadaway’s vision, what appears to be a sports movie narrative takes on elements of a psychological thriller that borders on a horror movie. It’s truly a sight to watch the tools of the thriller applied to a character in a sports movie who is desperate to be the best by an unhealthy compulsion.

Star Isabelle Fuhrman is superbly cast as Alex. Fuhrman’s thousand yard stare and uncanny beauty renders Alex as appealing but also kind of terrifying. I especially enjoyed director Hadaway’s choice to have Alex experience a fugue state while working on her rowing. The way the rest of the world becomes quiet and voices are drowned out create a disturbing visual and aural experience that adds to the strangeness of the narrative.

Visually, director Hadaway melts the backgrounds away behind Alex, shooting Fuhrman in close up for much of the movie with the world around her consistently blurry and out of focus. It's not hard to imagine that this is how Alex herself sees the world, blurry and out of focus aside from her immediate task and her deeply unhealthy desire to be the best.

It’s a remarkably clever way to make a sports movie, treating it like a psychological thriller. Create a character so driven that her determination borders on psychosis and see what happens. In my personal canon for The Novice, Alex read Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Outliers’ and became obsessed with the concept of 10,000 hours. Alex seems to be trying to master physical and mental tasks faster than 10,000, as if she wanted to prove Gladwell wrong. That’s head canon only, Gladwell is not mentioned in The Novice, I just enjoy that interpretation.

The gray, rainy atmosphere of The Novice is nearly as oppressive as being in Alex’s obsessive compulsive wake. Alex is in many ways like a storm, a chaotic, occasionally frightening and consistently electrifying presence. Her energy is that of a lightning storm, her wake is that of a tornado threatening to blow everyone else away. Even when she’s calm, Alex’s stormy qualities seem to linger, threatening to kick up a fuss again at any moment.

The Novice is a gripping, oddly fascinating movie. It’s exceptionally crafted with a great look and a deeply engaging central performance from Isabelle Fuhrman. The Novice is not for the faint of heart as Alex’s obsession builds her hands bleed from the effort, her fatigue becomes ours as our mind and body starts to churn with her effort. We are so much in Alex’s presence and mindset that The Novice becomes exhausting and yet still remarkably compelling.

The Novice arrives in limited release on December 17th, 2021.