Anthony Chen had a very busy year in 2023, coming up with two films, “The Breaking Ice” and “Drift”, with the second one, which we will deal with in this article, being a rather unique experience for him, considering it was shot in Greece, France and Liberia and is his English-language debut.
“Drift“ is screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival
With memories still fresh from a war that forced her to leave Liberia, Jacqueline is trying to survive in a Greek Island, with her circumstances, though, being similar to a stray dog, as a rather eloquent shot in the beginning of the movie highlights. She eats what she can find, occasionally just bags of sugar, is sleeping on the beach and is washing what she can of her clothes in the sea, while roaming around without any particular goal or hope. Flashbacks in her past portray a totally different life, of studying in the UK and eventually returning to the villa of her minister father in Liberia. In this life, however, she is just trying to survive by massaging people's feet on the beach with stolen olive oil, while mistrusting everyone around her and particularly the men of color that have also ended up on the island. Things change, though, when she meets Callie, an American tour guide who is particularly kind to her. Change, however, does not come that easy.
Anthony Chen directs a film that moves particularly towards European paths, with the focus on the protagonist being constant, and the close ups quite frequent. At the same time, though, the frequent flashbacks wonderfully break the misery of the present, by showing two aspects (UK and Liberia) of a completely different life, which actually make the impact of what is happening currently to Jacqueline even more intense. Furthermore, Chen takes care of showing that his protagonist (and a number of the millions of immigrants that came to Greece during the last years) has nothing to do with what she appears to be currently. She is smart, tough, intelligent, her English are much better than any of the locals she meets and in general, she is someone whose trauma and dramatic past are the only reasons for the barely-surviving life she is living on the island.
As such, the message about the immigrants echoes really loud throughout the movie, while the appearance of Callie results in a couple of more messages. The first is that people like Jacqueline are in desperate need of a helping hand, both practically and psychologically, but also that their healing will not come from one moment to the other, but will definitely take patience and time, particularly from those who have felt the blights of war deep in their skin.
Visually, and with the help of DP Crystel Fournier, Chen creates a series of rather appealing antitheses. The circumstances of the protagonist with the scores of tourists that come to the island is the first, while the second is juxtaposing the horrors of war with the beauties of the particular setting, all of which are rather impressively captured. The scene with the main cause of the trauma definitely stands out as the most shocking in the movie, both visually and contextually, with Chen not pulling many punches in that regard. Hoping Chen's editing results in a mid, occasionally slow tempo, with the flashbacks, though, providing a very appealing break that adds to the entertainment the movie offers.
Oscar-nominated Cynthia Erivo is impressive throughout as the two faces of Jacqueline, with the moments she is afraid or in pain being impressive to watch. Alia Shawkat as Callie is quite convincing as the kind-hearted tour guide, in a role, though, that seems too ideal and functionable for the movie on occasion.
“Drift” is a very nice “small” film, that highlights Chen's directorial abilities particularly in the way he took full advantage of the Greek setting, while presenting a very interesting story and a number of pertinent comments about the nature of immigration.
