There is much to be inspired by in the real-life story of Jessica Watson, who, at 16, famously set out to become the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop and unassisted around the world. But translating that solitude-filled 210 day voyage into interesting drama for the screen is no easy task - as director Sarah Spillane’s gloppy, goofily executed and terribly twee Netflix film reminds us. It’s impossible to predict how any title will fare on the streaming platform, but I’ll be surprised if this one isn’t quickly lost in the algorithms.
Every narrative involving arduously long trips across intimidatingly large bodies of water must at some point reiterate the traveller’s loneliness. In the 2003 Australian thriller Visitors, Radha Mitchell delivers a rousing performance as a young woman also sailing solo around the world, whose longing for conversational engagement leads to rather trippy outcomes: not only does she talk to her cat, but her cat talks back (and then the apparitions arrive …). And in the near-silent 2013 survival drama All is Lost, Robert Redford attempts to communicate with the outside world via the ol’ message in a bottle, putting a handwritten note in a jar then tossing it into the ocean.
