Hope

An online influencer has to struggle to stay alive after suffering an accident during her latest endeavour.

Hope (Coyle) is a young woman with a passion for adventure and she films herself as she goes through challenging activities in nature that include mountain climbing and scuba-diving and posts the videos online. She works from home, doing a job she dislikes and has a good relationship with her father (Chipperfield). Eventually, she decides that her next adventure will involve climbing a massive cliff in an isolated location that is significant to her. However, while there, she has a horrific accident and is left stranded in the countryside, with no phone signal.

This feature begins as a moving drama about self-discovery and experiencing life, with Hope living a sort of lonely but happy life, with her nature adventures being her main joy. When the accident takes place, things take a sharp left turn and the film turns into a harrowing story about survival, which takes up the majority of the movie's duration. Hope finds herself unable to walk and using a stick in order to stand up. She forces herself to keep moving, setting off on a desperate journey in oder to get to safety. It is a plot that resembles 127 Hours and it is filled with despair, agony, fear of death, isolation and determination to survive. However, it also points out the freedom one feels while being in nature and the importance of pursuing one's dreams.

Coyle is terrific in her role and her character makes quite a likeable protagonist. She effectively portrays an experienced media personality who is passionate about challenges and the audience will most likey sympathise with her when she accidentally gets herself into a terrible situation. It should also be mentioned how convincing Coyle is when her character is in great physical pain and struggling to push herself to keep going.

Marno does an amazing job as the director and creates wonderful establishing shots of landscapes and beaches. Composer Caela Murphy makes an outstanding contribution with the score that is heard throughout the film, that is dramatic and tense and includes beautiful piano melodies.

For sensitive viewers, it should be mentioned that there are very graphic images of injury and gore.

This feature can be hard to watch at times and for the majority of its duration it is not a pleasant viewing due to the physical and emotional suffering that its protagonist goes through and the plot twist at the end is something that some people might like while others might not. These comments are not negative, on the contrary, they suggest that this movie is quite memorable and Coyle's performance and the music help bring to light the hard work and creativity that was put into this project.