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It's Enrico's (Marco Rossi) birthday, so his friends Flavio (Filippo Nigro) and Elena (Diane Fleri) invite him, his girlfriend Claudia (Marina Rocco) as well as their best friends Martina (Katsiaryna Shulha) and her boyfriend Federico (Alessandro Tiberi) onto their yacht for a party on the open sea - with no personnel or skipper, just the six of them, so they can party without any restraint. And really, after an abundance of weed and alcohol, they all pass out - to on the next morning find their boat drifting on the open seas, her engine and radio sabotaged, all their cellphones gone as well as their food and drink and even flare guns. In short, someone has robbed them and wanted to make sure they can't just call for help - or even survive all that long. Eventually, they find a walkie talkie, and someone called Emilliio (Eduardo Valdarami) confesses it was him who set them adrift but promises help if Enrico gives him access to his secret Liechtenstein account, an account where he has hidden the very money he has embezzled from his very friends on board after a supposed "business deal" went South. Now of course Enrico has no choice but to do what Emilio asks, and Emilio does what he has promised, to drop a dingy in swimming distance with food, water and a radio. But while Flavio, the best swimmer of the bunch, gets the dingy, Emilio shows the others a video showing Martina cheating on Federico wth Flavio - and this really heats up the atmosphere in all the wrong ways and eventually bodies start to drop, all thanks to the masterful manipulations of Emilio. But while this goes on, it soon becomes clear there's more to this story than just a longing for some embezzled money ...

Now The Boat is certainly not the first film based on the premise of a group of people adrift at sea at the mercy of a psycho, and to be quite honest, the premise itself doesn't leave all that much room for variation - and yet, The Boat finds something new in what started out as a rather formulaic film, namely that by the by it gives its "psycho" a backstory, and one relatable enough that it blurs the lines between good and evil, has us the audience identify maybe not with his deeds but his motives. Now add to this an inventive directorial effort that really comes into its own in several very dynamic long takes, and a very competent cast, and you*re left with a very fine thriller indeed.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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