New Life: A Lot Like an Old Life, But Still Worth Living
By Thom Ernst
Rating: B
Director John Rosman’s debut film New Life is a simple but effective film that sits on the border between thriller and horror. Rosman straddles the line, keeping one foot in both genres and adding an element of apocalyptic drama. The result is a decent film despite the feeling that we’ve seen this before.
But we have not seen New Life before, only films with scenes like it. Watching New Life, I am reminded of the original Firestarter, even though the similarities between the two films are strained. Like Charlie in Firestarter — played by a young Drew Barrymore — Jessica (Hayley Erin) is a solid but naïve female on the run though she is a woman to Charlie’s girl.
Jessica survives by breaking into homes, stealing food, hiding in the back of pick-up trucks, and moving from place to place. And like Charlie, Jessica encounters a kindly farmer and his wife (Blaine Palmer and Betty Moyer) who offer to take her in.
The audience isn’t privy to the reason for Jessica’s fear and persecution. Her face is bloodied, and she avoids human contact, but the reasons for her appearance and exile are not clear. Not even to her.
Rosman holds off on the reveal until the 45-minute mark. That’s a long time for a film with a running time of barely 80 minutes (not counting end credits). Plus, it’s not the kind of reveal that really needed withholding. It’s not an “aha” type of reveal, and it doesn’t provide the film with a sudden and lasting shock that changes all that came before it. Instead, it asks the question, “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
Once the reveal happens, Rosman — doubling as the film’s screenwriter — scurries to get the movie to cross the finish line. Things wrap up in a head-spinning rush. It makes sense but doesn’t allow enough time for audiences to settle into this newly realized universe.
The premise, as first presented to the audience, is of a young woman running towards Canada to escape the clutches of a ‘fixer’ sent by a highly connected organization to stop her—dead or alive.
The fixer, Elsa (Sonya Walger) is a broken woman on her last assignment. She has contracted M.S. and is marking the signature ailments of the disease that grow increasingly worse every day. Elsa seems tough and single-minded but is plagued by a weakening body growing less functional.
Elsa is given the task of tracking and apprehending Jessica. A faint wisp of Killing Eve crosses my mind when Elsa’s boss (Tony Amendola) drops by unexpectedly and unwelcomed. The similarity is vague but there. But even with these subtle reflections of other shows and movies creeping in, New Life deserves to be seen. Rosman writes with meaning. The characters he creates—even those we think we have seen elsewhere—feel authentic and worthy of our concern. This is true of the film’s minor characters as much as it is of the major characters.
New Life’s unexpected delivery is the amount of heart Rosman puts into the story. It is a horror film (although for the first 40 minutes, you might think you’re watching the wrong movie) but it’s also touching, and surprisingly tender.
In a time when some folks (and I’m NOT one of them) complain that movies are getting too long, New Life is too short. At least it seems to be, given the abrupt change in the narrative.
Rosman is a filmmaker on the rise. New Life is filled with potential, moving close but stopping on the edge of excellence. A well-acted, well-directed, well-written film to help you turn off the world for a few moments. And given that our natural world is safer than the one Rosman offers, it’s worth the time.
New Life. Directed by John Rosman. Starring Hayley Erin, Sonya Walger, Tony Amendola, Blaine Palmer and Betty Moyer. Now streaming on various platforms.