Vague Visages’ New Life review contains minor spoilers. John Rosman’s 2023 movie features Sonya Walger, Hayley Erin and Tony Amendola. Check out the VV home page for more film reviews, along with cast/character summaries, streaming guides and complete soundtrack song listings.

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So many small-budget movies suffer from pacing and editing issues. First-time directors, it seems, favor “wouldn’t it be cool” concepts over clean filmmaking. In the process, heavy exposition leads to lazy scene execution. Scenes drag on too long; performers struggle with clunky dialogue. John Rosman’s New Life, however, is cohesive, visually stunning and highly entertaining from beginning to end. The first-time filmmaker, who wrote and directed the 85-minute thriller, makes everything feel sneakily grandiose with his auteur-like directorial approach and messaging about spiritual enlightenment.

Set in the Pacific Northwest, New Life begins in media res as a bloodied woman named Jessica Murdock (Hayley Erin, known for her roles in soap operas like The Young and the Restless and General Hospital) breathes heavily while entering a home. Moments later, a slick jump cut introduces an investigator named Elsa Gray (For All Mankind’s Sonya Walger). New’s Life visual design and tight editing at once creates a separation between the main characters while subtly establishing a connection. Elsa, a woman suffering from ALS, refuses to fully accept the hard facts of her diagnosis. She blasts Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” while navigating the Pacific Northwest after being tasked with tracking down the aforementioned Jessica, a young woman who unknowingly carries a mutant strain of the Ebola virus. A recurring green-blue color design teases “new life” for both characters, but Rosman frequently shifts gears to keep them in the shit, so to speak, trapped within the brutal truths of their earthly existence. In fact, New Life weirdly works as double-bill pairing with Mudbound (2017), a Netflix film with a similar visual language that I wrote about for my RogerEbert.com debut in February 2018.

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Rosman’s auteur-style filmmaking allows his lead performers to thrive in New Life. Plus, the most questionable moments set up bigger and better sequences. The writer-director stays consistent with his green/blue visual language, but also punctuates key moments with subtle filmmaking flourishes, such as when snowflakes create a dream-like effect during a conversation between Jessica and a helpful bar manager (Ayanna Berkshire as Molly), or when Rosman seemingly references John Ford’s iconic landscape shot featuring John Wayne from The Searchers (1956). On the flip side, the goriest moments feel more effective than anything in AMC’s The Walking Dead (2010-22). It’s hard to imagine that Rosman didn’t have full command of the set during production, as the collective performances betray what one might find in mediocre horror films that favor popcorn thrills over polished acting. In short, New Life’s ill-fated supporting players bring the goods as they swarm around Jessica.

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In New Life, Rosman and cinematographer Mark Evans create an epic feel while keeping the action on the ground. And the film wouldn’t work without the heart and soul provided by the two female leads. Walger, who delivers a simply astonishing performance, produces believable reactions to the surrounding chaos and stays locked into each moment. As Elsa remains trapped in a psychological predicament while navigating the outdoors, Jessica relies on practical decision-making in the Pacific Northwest while anticipating a spiritual reckoning. New Life reaches a boiling point as the protagonists confront the truth about their respective situations, with both leads tapping into the humanity of their characters and everything that the aforementioned Dylan sings about in “Like a Rolling Stone.”

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The most ambitious and effective filmmakers understand what general audiences will perceive as flaws. Rosman builds to a powerful resolution and ideal ending moment in New Life, using gore and traditional methods to escalate the tension, and then pulls the rug away from the audience — a reminder of who’s in control, a tease of what’s to come.

New Life released theatrically and digitally on May 3, 2024 via Brainstorm Media.

Q.V. Hough (@QVHough) is Vague Visages’ founding editor.

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