Shadows on the Wall | Last Breath

Last Breath

dir Alex Parkinson
scr Mitchell LaFortune, Alex Parkinson, David Brooks
prd David Brooks, Paul Brooks, Hal Sadoff, Norman Golightly, Jeremy Plager
with Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Finn Cole, Cliff Curtis, Mark Bonnar, MyAnna Buring, Josef Altin, Bobby Rainsbury, Connor Reed, Nick Biadon, Riz Khan, Kevin Naudi
release US 28.Feb.25,
UK 14.Mar.25
25/UK 1h33

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Maintaining the realism, Alex Parkinson adapts his 2019 documentary into a taut dramatic thriller, revealing a dangerous job that we rarely, if ever, think about. It's set on the ocean floor, where saturation divers work to maintain essential gas pipelines. Of course, something goes horribly wrong, and the film's tension is properly gripping even for those of us who have seen the doc and know what's going to happen.

In Aberdeen, three divers enter a compression tank as a ship heads to a North Sea repair site. Youngster Chris (Cole) is happy work with mentor Duncan (Harrelson) and lead diver Dave (Siu), who is something of a legend. But shortly after the divers land on the seabed, a computer glitch causes the ship to drift, snapping Chris' umbilical and leaving him with less than 10 minutes of oxygen. Working together, it takes the crew some 40 minutes to return to the site so Dave can rescue him, or more likely retrieve his body.

Crew members include the level-headed captain (Curtis), first officer (Buring), tech officer (Atlin) and robotic rover pilot (Reed). And there's also Chris' fiancee Morag (Rainsbury) unaware of the situation but still worrying about him back in their caravan on the spectacular Scottish coastline. This offers a nice visual break from the ship's bridge, which is closed in by a violent storm, the claustrophobic diving bell and the murky blackness of the deep sea, which resembles outer space.

Performances have a gritty earthiness that is augmented by the doc-style camerawork and added video-link camera footage. This creates an up-close glimpse of underlying emotion, and the actors beautifully underplay their feelings, adding to the tension. In the diving bell, Harrelson and Liu provide urgency and single-mindedness, while the bridge crew add steely determination and skill. Meanwhile, Cole gives the film its heart with an equally internalised turn that ripples with youthful energy and passion.

So while the movie feels somewhat straightforward, without dramatic frills, what's going on within these characters draws us in. The nerve-rattling decisions, moments of heroism and offhanded humour all help us identify with normal people whose daily experiences are something we can barely imagine. And the suspense grows exponentially to a surprisingly offhanded climax. So the film has a nice kick in the way it might make us think twice next time we crank up the heating in our homes.

themes, language 24.Feb.25

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