Drift

Cynthia Erivo stars in Anthony Chen’s sensitive drama about a Liberian refugee seeking recovery from indescribable trauma.

Alia Shawkat and Cynthia Enrivo (in front)

On the face of it you would not expect Anthony Chen to be an apt choice to direct Drift. This is a film set on a Greek island favoured by tourists in which the central figure is a Liberian refugee named Jacqueline and the greater part of the dialogue is in English. In contrast to all that, Chen is Singaporean and although he has made other feature films this is his first with a largely English-speaking cast. Furthermore, if Jacqueline played by Cynthia Erivo is the figure on which the film is principally focused, the other main character is also a woman, the American Callie (Alia Shawkat), who is currently living on the island and acting as a tour guide. Consequently, it might seem to be a natural decision to give this material to a female director. However, the big surprise of Drift is that Chen displays such sensitivity towards these two central characters and their situation that I cannot imagine any other director being so completely in tune with this material.

The result is not as it turns out a perfect film, but it is a deeply sympathetic one. Drift originated in the 2013 novel A Marker to Measure Drift which has been adapted for the screen by Susanne Farrell working in conjunction with its author Alexander Maksik. The story told here may reflect the situation of many refugees but the approach taken is one that opts to focus on a specific and personal instance of that as experienced by Jacqueline. The first half of the film is devoted to showing her solitary existence living not in accommodation but in a cave. She is clearly without funds and, if stealing to eat is sometimes a necessity, she more often obtains a bottle of oil and earns money by offering to give massages to tourists on the beach. It is no less apparent that she is traumatised by what had happened to her and her family in Liberia and her story is one unfolding in 2003 when that country was caught up in a civil war and rebels took over the capital.

Although some may complain that this first section of the film is too slow, it is in fact most adeptly made with Chen’s direction capturing both the atmosphere of the resort and the self-contained existence that Jaqueline is enduring. For better or worse we never discover how she got to this destination, but what is most persuasively handled is her chance encounter with Callie as she conducts a tourist group around local ruins. From that point on Drift concentrates on the healing bond that grows between these two women even though Jacqueline pretends to be a tourist herself and to have a husband who is also on the island, this because she cannot yet face up to her situation and openly acknowledge it to others.

What we the audience discover of Jacqueline's past comes through memory shots inserted. These not only introduce us to her parents (Vincent Vermignon and Zainab Jah) and her sister Saifa (Suzy Bemba) at a time when she had made a visit back home but also reference her time in London and her friendship with Helen (Honor Swinton Byrne). The family scenes in Liberia point towards the violence that was building up and we eventually see the events which have understandably traumatised Jacqueline. Initially these memory shots are fitted in as reflections in the mind of Jacqueline herself, but as the film proceeds they appear increasingly as a means to tell the story to the audience rather than representing what is affecting her at any given moment, the one late exception being the climactic revelation when Jacqueline is at last able to speak of what had happened.

This is a format that is somewhat self-conscious and, with the flashbacks being relatively brief, it does mean that the later island footage can seem rather drawn out at times. It's also the case that the theme of how Callie's friendship eventually enables Jacqueline to reach a point when she can move forward is rather confused by Jacqueline being portrayed as a lesbian (her relationship with Helen had been sexual). Callie is married but the marriage has failed and that’s a situation which could seem to indicate that the rapport between her and Jacqueline might become a sexual one. In fact it doesn’t, but the very possibility distracts from the film’s expression of how platonic friendship between women can count for so much.

Alia Shawkat is particularly good as Callie. It's a well-written role and an easier one to play than that of Jacqueline. Cynthia Erivo is a fine actress and is clearly committed here (indeed she is also one of the film’s producers) but, while very sympathetic in this role, she can't quite overcome the fact that a deeply interior performance is required even as Jacqueline’s traumatised state prevents any clear expression of her inward feelings. In the circumstances, along with the useful contributions by the editor Hoping Chen and the photographer Crystel Fournier, it is Anthony Chen’s ability to empathise with the material so deeply that makes Drift such a sympathetic work regardless of its more problematic elements.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Alia Shawkat, Ibrahima Ba, Honor Swinton Byrne, Zainab Jah, Suzy Bemba, Vincent Vermignon, Abigail Boyd, Amanda Drew, Luca Calvani, Dorotea Mercuri, Jonathan Rhodes.

Dir Anthony Chen, Pro Peter Spears, Emilie Georges, Naima Abed, Anthony Chen, Cynthia Erivo and Solome Williams, Screenplay Susanne Farrell and Alexander Maksik, based on the latter’s novel A Marker to Measure Drift, Ph Crystel Fournier, Pro Des Danai Elefsinioti, Ed Hoping Chen, Music Ré Olunuga, Costumes Matina Mavraganni and Mayo Trikerioti.

Giraffe Pictures/Cor Cordium/BFI/Edith’s Daughter/Heretic/Aim Media/FortyNineSixty-Met Film Distribution.
93 mins. UK/France/Greece/China/Singapore. 2023. US Rel: 9 February 2023. UK Rel: 29 March 2024. Cert. 15.