Adrift has all the familiar elements of the coming of age movie; a teenager discovering the opposite sex, arguments with parents, and endless hot summers. But director Heitor Dhalia’s movie has such an appealingly languorous mood it remains watchable. Set on the beaches of Búzios on the Brazilian coastline in the 1980’s, fourteen-year old Filipa (Laura Neiva) lives a seemingly idyllic life with her parents and two sisters.
Vincent Cassell Stars in Adrift
Filipa is the eldest child of Clarice (Deborah Bloch) and Mathias (Vincent Cassell), a French novelist. Their marriage is beginning to fall apart with Clarice getting through the day with the aid of a bottle of whisky and goading her husband with comments about his work. According to her, Mathias writes novels about existential types who mope about but never get around to actually doing anything about their lives.
As with many coming of age tales, death enters the world of the protagonist. Filipa and her friends read about the murder of a model and break into the grounds of her home, but their excitement is tempered by seeing a pool of blood and a vicious guard dog. Their days are spent lounging around on the beach and hanging around the pool by night, but Filipa gradually begins to understand things are far from perfect between her parents.
Filipa is closer to her father than her mother but is devastated to find Mathias is having an affair with Angela, a young American woman (Camilla Belle) holidaying in the area. However her attempts at saving her parents marriage lead her towards an understanding of how complicated relationships between adults can be. Something she is already beginning to comprehend through her on/off liaison with a local boy, whom she flirts with and then bullies.
Adrift is Adrift
Though Adrift holds the attention, there is no real chemistry between the leads. Cassell is charismatic and shows an impressive use of Portuguese, but neither he nor Deborah Bloch is particularly empathetic. Filipa, too, is unsympathetic, essentially a spoiled little rich girl and her callous behaviour towards her friends seems more malicious than it anything.
Dhalia and his cinematographer Ricardo Della Rosa make the best of the stunning locations available, bathing them in golden hour light. They make it look like a great place to visit, as long as you can avoid the troubled rich folk who live there.
Fernando Meirelles (City of God) served as a producer on Adrift. Revolver Entertainment release the film on DVD in the UK on 7th February 2011.
Rating 3/5
- Adrift
- Starring Vincent Cassell, Camilla Belle
- Written by Heitor Dhalia
- Directed by Heitor Dhalia
- Running time 97 mins
- Year 2009
Kevin Sturton - Kevin is a graduate of the 2005 Post-Grad course in Film Journalism run by the BFI and writes mainly about film.
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