Undercurrent

Icelandic theatre troupe Vesturport’s transition into cinema continues with this impressively claustrophobic ensemble drama about life on a crumbling Atlantic fishing trawler. There’s a vague thriller element to the film – it opens with the death at sea of a crew member under mysterious circumstances – but ‘Undercurrent’ is mostly concerned with nuances of character and interpersonal relationships within a confined space. There’s nothing radical about the script – it’s terse, uneasy and builds to a suitably dramatic climax – but the performances are strong, the seabound setting feels grimly authentic and the overriding sense of doom-laden inevitability is compelling.