Lauded Singaporean director Anthony Chen has made award-winning films on his home turf, such as Ilo Ilo, a Cannes prize winner in 2013. Drift is his English-language debut, and it’s an assured and compassionate portrait of a displaced, desperate woman trying to cling onto her pride.
Casting the mighty Cynthia Erivo (Widows) is a smart move. As West African refugee Jacqueline, she carries herself with quiet composure, her soulful eyes and her soft voice hinting at past traumas. She is on a Greek island, sleeping in a cave, washing her clothes in the sea and trying to grab leftover restaurant food that tourists have left on restaurant tables.
Flashbacks reveal her to have had two quite different lives: one with a girlfriend (The Souvenir’s Honor Swinton Byrne) in the UK, and one at home with her family in war-torn Liberia, where they were reliant on private security to protect them from harm. Aside from one very disturbing scene, these flashbacks are told in brief, economical bursts, as if they are memories popping into Jacqueline’s head. They contrast with her life drifting around the island, unable to appreciate the beauty of the place through her hunger and fear.
Casting the mighty Cynthia Erivo is a smart move
It’s a thought-provoking and involving scenario, inviting us to learn the details of Jacqueline’s daily challenges, whether she is having to massage the feet of rich tourists for cash, or contemplating stealing much-needed sanitary products. A glimmer of hope comes in the form of friendly tour guide Callie (Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat), who invites her to hang out. Callie accepts her story about having a husband back at the villa – even if her watchful eyes suggest she suspects there is no husband. Or villa.
The patience and kindness with which Callie treats Jacqueline is palpable, but carefully avoids the white saviour trope. Callie has her own reasons to need a friend, and affords Jacqueline as much dignity as possible.
It’s no surprise to learn that this comes from writer Susanne Farrell, who co-wrote 2019’s hard-hitting British drama Dirty God. This is a film equally grounded in realism and empathy, and a reminder that no two people have the same story.
In UK cinemas and US theaters Mar 29.