Director Wolfgang Fischer’s film opens with oceanic feeling with lapping waves and the tactile business of adjusting winches. Styx: Questions of life and death on the ocean Review: A doctor on a solo high-seas adventure is confronted head-on with the refugee crisis

Apart from retaining the gritty pessimism of its contemporaries, “Styx” is minimalist filmmaking executed in superbly sharp fashion. Directed by Wolfgang Fischer, “Styx” tells the story of Rike (Susanne Wolff), a German emergency room physician who sets sail on the high seas in hopes of visiting a remote island. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. The Movie Quiz: Which of the Magnificent Seven lived the longest? Review: ‘Dick Johnson Is Dead’ is the strangest, most surreally moving of father-daughter love stories. Should she approach the trawler and take on the many who are throwing themselves into the sea, she risks sinking her own vessel. There’s logic in indifference. As a result, this brand of philosophical horror that the film conjures up might endure as one of the most emotionally upsetting experiences you will encounter in a theater this year. President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden faced off in Cleveland in their first presidential debate. Typically, movies involving one person in the ocean are never happy stories. The conflicting emotions of self-preservation and one’s obligation to save lives continually shift the spectrum as Rike’s situation unfolds, forcing you to consider how you would react if placed in her position. The film keeps the door for interpretation open so wide, that some might wander in and leave unaffected; truthfully, “Styx” is simplistic to a near-crippling degree. Cakes it is, Frequently asked questions about your digital subscription, Specially selected and available only to our subscribers, Exclusive offers, discounts and invitations, Explore the features of your subscription, Carefully curated selections of Irish Times writing, Sign up to get the stories you want delivered to your inbox, An exact digital replica of the printed paper. 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Styx Critics Consensus. Nevertheless, this margin for subjectivity allows this stripped bare, three-act tragedy to shine as a commendably bold work of art. He insists that Rike intervene. Gavin Newsom and health officials at a critical moment. Susanne Wolff, Gedion Oduor Wekesa, Felicity Babao, Alexander Beyer, Inga Birkenfeld, First published: Fri, Apr 26, 2019, 05:00. 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The angry exchanges between President Trump and former vice president Joe Biden made it a challenging evening for the “Fox News Sunday” anchor. You either get stranded at sea (“All Is Lost”), attacked by sharks (“The Shallows”), or trapped on a raft Sam Claflin (“Adrift”). Wolfgang Fischer, Starring: My husband a keen sailor kept saying the sails were set all wrong and the storm was a great use of a fire hydrant. She radios for help but is instead instructed to keep her distance. In broken English, Kingsley explains that he has a sister on the doomed ship. At the very least, “Styx” is thought-provoking.

Nevertheless, the primary factor permitting “Styx” to warrant any sort of recognition is inarguably Susanne Wolff’s dynamically subtle performance. DOP Benedict Neuenfels’s crystalline shots of azure waters, gauzy skies and macaques gambolling around Gibraltar only adds to the horrors that unfold (largely off-screen). “Styx” forces you to confront the fact that, in the all-encompassing picture, human life is exceptionally fragile. On a related note, the total absence of a conventional, or even semi-satisfying, conclusion nearly deprives the film of providing any resonance whatsoever. Rike--40, a doctor from Europe--embodies a typical Western model of happiness and success. Rike’s quandary then goes beyond the medical needs of a single needy stranger: She’s now in the middle of a humanitarian crisis, trapped between her calling as a First World healer and the psychological, political realities of that wider, crueler other world. Coinciding with the flick’s allergy to dialogue, Wolff is limited to facial expressions for a noticeable majority of the feature. Styx is a gripping sea adventure that mixes thrills and spills with thoughtfulness and compassion.