Adrift

Sailing in the wake of the aquatic chiller ‘Open Water’, this visually imaginative low-budget feature treads the same water, but causes a few more emotional ripples. Invited onto their pal’s luxury yacht for a reunion weekend, a group of old high-school friends jump off the anchored boat into the sea, but forget to lower the steps that would allow them to climb back on board. Only a steep, slippery hull stands between them and salvation, but when their improvised self-rescue efforts come to nothing, old antagonisms and jealous tensions start to surface – not least because, when their irresponsible host Dan jokingly pitched his hydrophobic ex-girlfriend Amy over the side, he left her young baby still onboard. German-born director Hans Horn’s skilful use of anamorphic widescreen images makes the most of the marine vistas and reflective surfaces, although some of the tank-shot scenes have a distracting, artificial look. An ensemble of unknown actors works hard to exploit the tight dramatic parameters, with uneven results. Even so, they keep things afloat right up to the fudged, disappointing ending.