You never really know which way it’s going to go in a survival story based at sea. What will the main issue be? – will it be the elements (The Perfect Storm)? Will it be the failings of the vessel, or human error (Open Water; Dead Calm; Adrift)? Or will there be something potentially supernatural going on (The Block Island Sound, The Isle)?
Row (2025, or 2018?) has – no spoilers intended – a hint of all of those, with an abundant runtime of around two hours and clear ambition to make the very best out of the setting and central ideas. However, it’s a strange blend of enthusiasm and a rather diffuse style of storytelling (see: two hour runtime) which can’t quite ring true, despite some skilled shooting and visuals. It looks great; there are, however, issues with both pace and plot.
The film starts with a bloodied rowing vessel; there’s a traumatised, lone woman on board waving a knife around. This feels like a film choosing to start at around three-quarters of the way through its complete narrative, which is a popular narrative choice; our task will be to unpick what brought Megan (Bella Dayne) to this point, and see what unfolds next: chiefly, is Megan guilty of murder? Footage of the time aboard the boat is interspliced with footage of Megan recovering in what turns out to be a guesthouse on a remote Scottish island, under the auspices of an interested local policeman. First, though, we go right back to before the vessel left Newfoundland, as part of a world record attempt to cross the Atlantic to Ireland. More on this anon.
There are instant issues, issues some might say are a good reason not to do the crossing at all: firstly, Megan does not seem the sort of person who’s likely to thrive cheek by jowl with three other rowers, two of them strangers to her, for weeks at a time in dangerous conditions. She’s very closed off, even a little numb to what she’s about to undertake, mustering only an assurance to her mother that she’ll be ‘fine’. She’s accompanied by old friend Lexie (Sophie Skelton), and two blokes – Daniel (Akshay Khanna) and Mike (Nick Skaugen). The vessel launches with no fanfare, given it’s a record attempt: true enough, thanks to the audience perspective, we also already know it wasn’t exactly successful, and that during her recovery, Megan is being questioned as to the whereabouts of her crewmates (though to be fair, it’s almost bound to be ‘the sea’, isn’t it?) The flashback/flash forward device is an interesting approach; depending on your outlook, you could see it as an intriguing way of adding depth and complexity to the film, or as a means of losing its building tension, given that it jumps away from events on the voyage to the aftermath at regular intervals. Regardless of where you stand, it does at least demonstrate ambition for the framing narrative, and a way of layering different elements to build structure.
There are great elements here, and director Matthew Losasso has made much of his opportunity to film at sea – filming off the coast of Scotland, but effectively weaving the illusion that this is hundreds of miles from anywhere. The use of drone shots to pan down towards the vessel are great for this, and shots of rough weather genuinely create an impression of the great powerlessness of human beings in such an environment (with sympathetic, convincing and best of all, brief moments of CGI). Even before the record attempt gets underway, shots of the boat make it seem quite clear that it’s fragile, even if in peak condition. In contrast, the sea is consistently vast and cold, with sequences filmed at sea capturing the isolation and desperation of the characters. It’s great that these things are in place; despite issues with the overarching plot, there’s lots to enjoy here in terms of the aesthetics and broader atmosphere of the film, at least in its strongest moments.
It’s just hard to call in other respects; that’s the issue here. It’s not quite clear whether this was meant to be an ominous dreamscape or a realistic look at the perils of the Atlantic. There’s both a lot going on – not always followed through – and little going on. This duality starts early: the premise is just off somehow, this ‘world record’ attempt that no one seems to know about, undertaken by a group of people who don’t seem particularly fit, or prepared, with no rapport, no working relationships and a tendency to make mad decisions. Of course people can be idiots and these idiots can get in rowing vessels, if they so wish; it just feels unreal here when it really needed to feel substantial, the basis upon which everything else rests. Other things then come along and interfere with the central premise. Such as, the two women do no rowing for the first half an hour of the film; they seem to enjoy sitting around and talking instead. The men do some rowing, but a lot of macho yelling too – and they’ve dumped the heater and the desalinator, because of course they have. Perhaps the point here is that these people should never have come, but it’s a vague sort of point, and it takes until past the first hour before human lunacy really takes hold as the Central Issue.
Row picks up a few things and puts them down again: personal drama; identity crises; guilt; even what looks for a while like a supernatural plot shift. It never really settles on one mode of storytelling and it never offers us fully-fledged characterisation, so if nothing else, the journey feels about as long for us as it does for the hapless adventurers. Megan, in particular, is very tough to read, going from inertia to mania and back again. Whether this is Megan as-written or as-acted, it’s another issue in a film which needed at least a few more, excuse the expression, watertight elements.
The key problem here, beyond the determination to throw every kind of obstacle at the boat, is that runtime. Losasso is most experienced as a short film director (though with a few TV movies also under his belt) but that leap from a few minutes to 118 of them has posed problems. It nearly always does. Add in a maximum cast of four, a very limited set and a three-quarters-through start point and there’s several reasons why generating clarity and tension is going to be difficult. Row is a technically very proficient film, but perhaps a victim of the urge to do everything. Less is more.
Row (2025) received its world premiere at the Raindance Film Festival on 21st June 2025.
