Sea Fever (2019)

REVIEW BY: ROBERT CHANDLER

Neasa Hardiman’s SEA FEVER has just surfaced on Sky Cinema. It is most definitely worth watching. 

Although the events of this Irish/Swedish Co-production - a crew in a fishing vessel get caught up in the tendrils of a giant sea creature which proceeds to infect them one-by-one - are inherently derivative (it’s too familiar a set-up to ever feel fresh and the writer/director falls into the easy trope traps of ALIEN and THE THING), it is shot and designed by Hardiman in such a way as to pull you in and admire it.

Hermione Corfield is excellent as a young, aloof, unsocial red-headed Irish scientist (the red hair is important as it is considered unlucky on a fishing boat and adds to her alienation from the other crew members); while Dougray Scott and Connie Nielsen bring good, gruff value as the owners / captains of the vessel.

There’s nothing here we haven’t seen before (a significant moment borrows from THE BIG BLUE) and the film isn’t as tense as it ought to be, but I found myself falling in love with it. I think it’s because of the way Hardiman frames her shots, and uses the art direction, dressing her characters so as to define their relationships. 

Corfield’s scientist with her red hair and her clothes in a contrasty, bright register is marked out from the other grimier members of the crew. She carries the film, displaying easily her character’s intelligence, which brings a responsibility to save the day. All the weight falls onto her shoulders and she bears it well.