Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: John Rosman
Starring: Hayley Erin, Sonya Walger, Tony Amendola, Ayanna Berkshire, Nick George, Blaine Palmer
Of all the genre movies that have directly or indirectly addressed
COVID, John Rosman's New Life might be the most
interesting. Through a chase narrative it reminds us of how willing many
institutions were to sacrifice the weakest to save the herd in the
early, uncertain stages of the pandemic.
The "weakest" is represented here by Elsa (Sonya Walger), an
agent for a shadowy group who finds herself tasked with tracking down a
young woman, Jessica (Hayley Erin), who has escaped from a secret
facility. Fearing it would end her career, Elsa has been hiding a secret
from her employers: she's in the early stages of ALS, and is struggling
to keep her hands steady. What Elsa doesn't realise is that her boss,
Raymond (Tony Amendola, an actor I will forever confuse with F.
Murray Abraham), is all too aware of her condition. In fact, it's the
specific reason why he picked her for this assignment.
Unbeknownst to both herself and Elsa, Jessica has contracted a deadly
virus. She appears to be immune from its effects, but anyone she comes
into contact with initially starts coughing and breaking out into hives,
only to ultimately regress to something akin to a mouth-foaming rage
zombie. Elsa's illness has made her essentially a kamikaze in Raymond's
eyes. Better she contact Jessica and risk contracting the virus than
someone fit and healthy, right?
New Life has a deeply cynical view of the institutions
that run our world and in so doing, decide which lives hold most value.
But it offers a starkly contrasting opinion of the goodness of ordinary
people. When Jessica is caught stealing canned food from a remote shed,
we fear the worst when she's rumbled by a shotgun toting farmer, Frank
(Blaine Palmer). Rather than calling the cops, or worse, Frank
invites Jessica to have breakfast with his wife (Betty Moyer).
She's offered the chance to take a shower and is given a ride north by
Frank, who gifts her a bag filled with clothes and food. When Jessica
asks Frank why he's being so good to her, he replies "Freedom of
reinvention built this country." The line is spoken like a cutting jibe
at America's current reductive "You're either with us or against us"
mentality. Later, Jessica is befriended by Molly (Ayanna Berkshire), a small town bar owner who has reinvented herself after fleeing
domestic abuse.
What makes New Life so tragic is that all of these kind
strangers are punching their own tickets by helping Jessica, whose mere
presence condemns them to a death sentence, or something worse. Far from
faceless victims, Rosman makes sure to humanise these people so that
we're genuinely affected by their fates, and later the toll the
realisation of her condition takes on Jessica.
Elsa is similarly well sketched. She's essentially the voiceless agent
that lives in a hotel room until they're activated in the likes of the
Bourne movies, but Rosman and Walger make her a living, breathing,
struggling human. Watching her attempt to chase Jessica while struggling
to stay upright with the aid of a crutch, horror fans may be reminded of
Donald Pleasence's Dr. Loomis in the later
Halloween sequels. Just as Loomis was willing to do to end
Michael Myers' reign of terror, Elsa is prepared to sacrifice herself,
having earlier admitted to contemplating suicide rather than enduring
with her new way of life. But it's the very act of chasing someone who
is so motivated by the will to survive that causes Elsa to question if
maybe it's worth persevering after all. If nothing else, it would be a
middle finger to those who wrote her off.
New Life is on Netflix UK/ROI now.
