Movie Details
True Spirit (2023)
Director-: Sarah Spillane
Cast-Teagan Croft: Plays Jessica Watson
Cliff Curtis: Plays Ben Bryant, Jess’ mentor
Anna Paquin: Plays Julie Watson, Jess’ mother
Josh Lawson: Plays Roger Watson
Alyla Browne: Plays Young Jessica
Bridget Webb: Also in the cast
Vivien Turner: Also in the cast
Stacy Clausen: Also in the cast
Movie type- Adventure/Sport
Release date-26 January 2023
IMDB Rating-6.8
Languages- More than 30 languages
Duration-1 Hour 49 Minute
Trailer
Synopsis
Blindly watching “original” Netflix feature films is Russian roulette. Especially in recent years, you never know when the streaming drum will unhappily spin and you will meet a (preferably quick) death. The last time I died was watching the lousy Austenian Pride and wooing Dakota Johnson , so I looked upon Jessica Watson’s biographical True Spirit is a sailor with justifiable disdain from the very beginning. Since you just checked the final rating, you can already guess that the streaming king did not fail this time.
If you’re expecting a breath-taking survival game where a determined 16-year-old Australian girl hits rock bottom and sweats blood on her 42,596-kilometer journey around the world, go one house further. The film was not directed by Baltasar Kormákur or JC Chandor , and the female equivalent of the seasoned Robert Redford does not shine in the lead role . Sailing around the world without anchoring in ports is not entirely without problems, but the Perfect Storm avoids the heroine (perhaps with only one exception). First and foremost, True Spirit should be approached as a family film with a dash of adventure . As such, however, it works surprisingly well.
In fact, during the entire footage, the boat is allowed to sail out of the picture at the right moment, and the viewer is treated to a flashback, where a determined ten-year-old girl plans to sail around Cape Horn and beat sea wolves thirty years older. This is followed by a cut to the present day of her lovely family, ruled by an edgy Anna Paquin as a cool mom and sister running a travel blog (remember, it’s 2009).
Ben is then available to robinson on the satellite phone, played by the charismatic New Zealand king of the supporting roles, Cliff Curtis , whom you last saw as the Tonowari sea tribe chief in the Avatar sequel . So you can also tick off a grumbling mentor with a trauma from the past and a heart in the right place.
Of course, we are talking about a story played to safety, and more demanding viewers (god forbid yachtsmen who dream of killer whales) should not waste their time with a simple biographical picture for the whole family. If they did, they would just tick off one cliché after another – for example, the development of the first critical and later fanboy reporter Atherton. In the same way, the captain’s dyslexia is simplified to the core – a few jumbled letters and numbers that one day prevent her from correctly determining the position, and thus it goes away.
Additionally, Jessica fans will know that the cruise itself was not without controversy, which the film largely ignores. Perhaps I will not reveal too much when I add that the bitter point, when the youngest lady was not recognized by her opponents due to the lack of nautical miles, is simply ignored. If you want, you can certainly criticize the casting of the main role.
The likeable actress Teagan Croft , in the role of a determined woman, forgets her comb and combs with forks when she sets sail, but that does not change the fact that, rather than the real Jessica (she reminded me a bit of Greta Thunberg in the documentaries), she gives the impression of an up-and-coming model who it fades once, but the hairstyle stays in any weather. But these are rather details that you can easily forgive the creators.
The unknown director Sarah Spillane sailed through a warm and inspiring story based on a real event. Even as the camera follows the launch of the wobbly pink boat in Sydney, the innocent bobbing on the waves is accompanied by a cleverly chosen pop , and pretty images are rhythmically interwoven with shots from the deck, where an enthusiastic teenager conducts the beloved ship. Not to mention the wonderful and almost dreamlike scene when thousands of stars are reflected on a calm surface at night and Jessica jumps weightlessly to the accompaniment of a cover of David Bowie’s Starman , unknown to me (I enriched my Spotify). No, the cheap CGI will not disturb you and in the best moments you will even remember the precise tricks from the already mentioned and ageless Perfect Storm .
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