Life coach Danny Carlton (Liam Harkins) takes a pause while talking to client Scott Hammond (Stephen McMillan). Sometimes he works out, waiting for clients, only for them to call him to quit the program that he’s starting. He needs help, both from his mother Jackie (Kathleen McDermott) and his original life coach Marshall (Kevin O’Loghlin). Thankfully, Scott, his first client, is still around and believes him even if their respective families don’t so do. Despite having each other, Danny still has his debts and needs to do whatever it takes, even using his friend.

Director and writer Tom Nicoll is the brains behind Salvation, which is one of the Discovery selections at TIFF. His previous work includes shorts like Lighting Tests which, from light research, seems like a dramedy about parasitic relationships. What can be more parasitic than life coaches and their dog whistling making its way through Europe? Europe seems like the worst place to be a life coach, but the class system there needs new solutions. This film juxtaposes influencing and Britain’s class system as complementary despite both seeming like pieces that don’t fit.

One can sees some tight shot in Salvation like Danny’s laptop loading up a cart to make a life coach home office. And then it clicks for viewers that he’s going to spiral and make decisions worse than most real life people do. This film shows that bad decisions can make for cringy experiences but they also make for great cinematic thrills.