Sometimes even manifest destiny needs a little bit of a boost…

In theatres today we get the unique pleasure of seeing a rising Canadian directorial star double down on their worth as Balestra more than avoids the sophomore slump with an engaging affair on the nature of obsession.

A competitive fencer (Cush Jumbo) agrees to test an experimental device that lets her train within lucid dreams in which she meets a mysterious stranger (Manny Jacinto) who will upend her marriage, her psyche, and her path to Olympic gold.

In her follow up to the incredibly well received Black Conflux; director Nicole Dorsey crafts a hypnotic journey into the very essence of determination and the things that we’ll subject ourselves to in order to win.

Crafting a visual pallet that is both meticulous in its use of not only space, but negative space, Dorsey allows this story to elevate to near science fiction levels of psychology and tension in its visual storying telling, keeping very much akin to the angular and starkness that the genre saw in the 1970’s with the likes of Solaris, Rollerball and THX-1138.  Which makes perfect sense because what Balestra is truly about is that precipice of emotion that who want to succeed at a high level will do to themselves, Dorsey deftly manages to make these characters exist in this world while she stays out of their way as they all peel back the layers of the onion to let us see what is really going on.

In what this critic can only hope is a star making turn for British actress Cush Jumbo as our driven fencer Joanna Bathory looking to climb her way back to the top, it would have been easy for her to make this a one dimensional reclamation of a character’s need to return to past successes, but the realities are so much more engaging as we peel back the onion of this character.

Starting from the familiar place of an athlete looking to reclaim past glories we’re allowed to relate and empathize with Joanna on her quest, but as we get further down the rabbit hole of her psyche and we see not only some of the earned scars that she has from the emotional abuse from her partner and coach played by the always underrated James Badge Dale, but also the warped and often toxic ideal to be the best at something and the extremes it can drive you to.

Manny Jacinto does quality work as the coach in her mind that slowly starts to bleed into her reality and it all builds in such a glorious slow burn in the way that we rarely get to see in any medium of storytelling.

From its immaculate and visually lush direction to a performance from its leading lady that one can only hope gets recognized for some awards season love, the genuine magic of Balestra is the shades of grey it gets to play in.

It’s both a story of empowerment and obsession and takes the mental health aspects of people who try and operate at high level like this and puts in all in a very unique light.  Combined with a lead that walks the intersection of that line between hero, victim and villain…and makes it look effortless as it commands the big screen.  Balestra is the essence of what it means to win and the sacrifices that have to be made to get there.