British filmmaker Gino Evans’ directorial debut is a bleak look at life after prison. Here’s our Treading Water review.
Director Gino Evans’ debut feature, is a bit of a rarity. In an industry seemingly obsessed with London, Treading Water is set in Manchester and made by northerners. The film aims to offer audiences a peek at what life’s really like outside the glamorous locations of London, too often romanticised on film.
The story follows Danny (Joe Gill) who’s just been released from prison. He’s sorted himself a room in a shared, assisted house where his fellow occupants are crude and uninviting. He’s still trying to beat a heroin habit, too, and suffers with severe OCD, constantly convincing himself that if he doesn’t perform certain tasks, he’ll die.
When Danny encounters an old flame, there’s suddenly light at the end of the tunnel. Laura (Becky Bowe) is a pregnant sex worker stuck in a less-than-ideal relationship herself, but Danny’s interest in her quickly turns into an unhealthy obsession.
At 121 minutes, Treading Water is a little on the long side, but after it makes its central point – that life has become near impossible in modern Britain if you’re not generationally well off – it has little to say. Evans stuffs his film with a lot of elements that perhaps deserved their own film. Exploring abusive relationships, sex work, mental health, addiction and the housing crisis in two hours is a lot to get through.
Evans also quickly falls into the trap of making Treading Water into misery porn. No one in the film seems to have a particularly good time and aside from one heartwarming sequence in which Danny and his housemate go on an epic bender, there’s not a whole lot to celebrate here. Granted, life has become difficult and depressing for many of us, but it’s sad to see yet another film treat the North of England as if there’s nothing joyful about it.
Treading Water does reserve a lot of empathy for all its characters. They’re victims of their circumstances, trapped in situations they have little power over and there’s no judgement on Evans’ part.
Gill is impressive as Danny. It’s a balanced performance that never attempts to manipulate the audience into feeling sorry for the character, just to consider the situation from his point of view. Crucially, Treading Water also never makes excuses for Danny’s drug use or how he treats Laura.
Bowe rose as the surprising highlight of the film, but the script, also by Evans, doesn’t afford Laura as much depth or empathy as Danny. Laura seems to exist only to be exploited and abused by the men in her life and we learn little about her outside of this. We’re invited to feel sorry for her, but Evans fails to give Laura the same treatment as Danny.
Overall, Treading Water is a promising start for Evans. It’s uneven and could have done with another go at the script, but Evans has a distinct voice and it’s lovely to see someone break through the London-centric cinema landscape and offer an alternative.
Treading Water screened as part of BFI London Film Festival and Bulldog Film Distribution will release the film at a later date.
