Balestra
Challengers but make it psychological sci-fi thriller
Generally speaking, I am nearly never in the cinema past 5 p.m. I look for matinees and afternoon screenings and will only occasionally venture into the theatres in the evenings during festivals or for special events and advanced screenings. It should surprise you, then, that I found myself at the theatre last night at quarter to 9 p.m., seated for Balestra. In another out of character move, I also tried a new movie snack at the theatre last night. Nothing too out of the ordinary but I swapped my usual popcorn for chocolate M&Ms and can confirm they were a great snack choice – I can’t believe I’ve never had them at the theatre before.
But, back to the important stuff. Balestra is a psychological, science fiction thriller that follows professional fencer Joanna Bathory (Cush Jumbo) as she works to qualify for the Paris Olympics and reclaim her past glory after taking some time away from the sport. To supplement her training, she agrees to test an experimental device that allows her to train via lucid dreaming, where she trains with an attractive instructor who threatens her real-life marriage to her coach and her path to an Olympic medal. The film builds on a lot of familiar tropes and uses common elements of sports films but twists them into something a little more sinister, a little more twisted, as the line between reality and her lucid dreams begins to blur for both Joanna and the viewer.
The script is strong as is the visual storytelling, but what really makes this film are the standout performances from the entire cast. With nearly a two-and-a-half hour runtime, the buildup is slow and gradual but it works because Jumbo manages to stay compelling throughout, peeling back the layers of her character one by one and drawing the audience deeper and deeper into Joanna’s story as the minutes go by. Manny Jacinto is excellent as the coach in Joanna’s dreams, and his physical attractiveness only helps sell the character. However, the standout for me was Christin Park as Audie Zimmer, Joanna’s rival and the best young fencer in the United States. She is meant to come off as unlikable and is passive aggressive from the moment she is introduced to the audience. Her character is almost a caricature of your average mean girl, high school bully – although aged up – but that’s precisely why her performance works so well. If you’ve ever been in competitive or elite sports, you’ve had a teammate exactly like Park’s Audie Zimmer.
The slow buildup also allows for the film to shift genres seamlessly. What starts as a sports drama turns into science fiction then romance and eventually a psychological thriller. The cinematography plays a big part here, too. The visuals and interiors shift from muted and cold in Joanna’s real life to warm and soft in her dreams, also signifying the shift in her state of mind as she starts to prioritise her lucid dreams over her real life training.
While I have admittedly no knowledge of the sport of fencing, the fencing sequences were shot very appealingly, to the point where I could feel myself shifting forward in my seat during the final match sequence. In a lot of ways, the experience with the sport itself was reminiscent of that I had with tennis in Challengers earlier this year.
I only wish Balestra was screening in Imax.
4 out of 5 stars, and I highly recommend going to see this one if you have a chance to do so.