“I Can’t Do this”- Tami Oldham
“You can do anything you put your mind to.” Richard Sharpe
The unbelievable true story of Tami and Richard who set sail from Tahiti to San Diego when their sail boat is nearly destroyed in a category five hurricane and leaves them adrift in the middle of the pacific ocean. Now it’s up to Tami to navigate and steer their boat as it drifts to the Hawaiian Islands. The question stands will they make it in time?
At an hour thirty six minute run time, the movie will leave audience members at the edge of their seats wondering if the next moment will be their last.
When the two trailers for this movie came out, they both leave one wanting to see for the adventure and thrill that goes into sailing ultimately around the world and the movie doesn’t disappoint. Edited seamlessly together, the viewer finds oneself on an adventure where they don’t know who will survive until the end but like the one line, it is the reason for sailing.
Richard says sailing is “Miserable, You’re either sun burnt, sleep deprived, or seasick and after awhile there’s hallucinations”. All of which is experienced in this hour and a half journey as one sees the love between a man and a woman tried and tested in this epic journey, but as Richard answers Tami as to why do it. “It’s a feeling, It’s intense. It’s just you and the infinite horizon.” The film definitely captures all of that and more in it’s hour 36 minute runtime.
Tami, played by Shailene Woodley in what is the most dramatic role of her career. Woodley does an exceptional job as a woman in the beginning who is that of a drifter herself. She arrives to tahiti only five months prior to meeting Richard and voyaging to California and yet she goes through the most growth as we see her challenged with trying to save not only herself but also the love of her life.
There are elements in this movie similar to Divergent series where again she is just trying to survive in the midst of being different and not fitting in but Woodley takes the passion from that film and elevates it to include that of learning how to survive when all hope should be lost. The other element is that of the romance aspect where we see in a short time how love as powerful as it is, it can drive one to do unexpectible things, even leaving with a stranger that she only mets a few short months ago but the message of
“come sail with me” rings true.
There is one other actor who is worth mentioning and that is of Richard played by Sam Claflin from Me Before You. Looking back on his previous work as a young man who is paralyzed, it is refreshing to see Claflin as more than a man paralyzed but one that helps guide Woodley to safety again. He portrays the same passion as he has in the past but he does it in such a way that one wonders after, did that really just happen? It’s a question at the end that the audience is left walking out with, but in a good way.
It’s about the journey and Adrift certainly takes us on a journey not only on the seas but also through the lives of our drifted lovers as it holds our attention from the first minute when Tami wakes up to water in the boat up to the moment when Richard truly professes his love.
Following in the shadows of the real life Tami and Richard, one could definitely see why the casting director chose Woodley and Clafin. There are emotions from both of them that definitely mirror that of the real life lovers. The actors did their research in the history in order to put on a star stunning performance that both Tami and Richard would be proud of.
Stx Entertainment’s Adrift is an action packed movie that combines elements of Castaway with that of The Notebook in a way that no movie has every done before. Sort of like Tom Hanks obsession with Walter the volleyball, but the director uses the love between a man and a woman in an effort to save at least one from the treacherous open seas. The bigger question is, do they succeed? One’ll have to see the movie to know the answer. Adrift came out in theaters Friday June 1 and is currently playing in a theater near you.