The Fugitive gets a makeover for our COVID age in this slow-burn thriller by director John Rosman. However, where the 1993 classic was all Richard Kimble’s film (not that we wouldn’t have liked to have seen more of Tommy Lee Jones), New Life is a little more concerned with chaser than chasee. Here, Sonya Walger plays fixer Elsa – tasked with tracking down mysterious fugitive Jessica Murdock (Hayley Erin) before the clock runs out.
Grappling with the onset of degenerative condition ALS, Elisa is racing against the clock in more than one way – as the stakes rise to apocalyptic proportions, the fixer must also battle with her own body to get the job done. Walger delivers a commanding performance as one of the film’s two leads, giving both steely determination and frustration at her predicament. In the other half of the narrative, Erin gets to run the gamut through Fugitive and Stephen King tropes – including the obligatory sequence in which she takes shelter with a kindly old couple, potentially dooming them with her presence.
Rosman is in no rush to reach the final destination (the States-Canada border, gorgeously shot by cinematographer Mark Evans). The pressure and stakes are slowly cranked up as Elsa realises what is really going on here. But, as grisly as the journey gets (and, once the shoe drops, it gets very grisly indeed), the writer/director never loses sight of what matters – a two-hander character piece, impeccably written and acted.
NEW LIFE is released on digital platforms from June 3rd.
