John Rosman’s “New Life” is a blistering multidimensional thriller that hits from all directions — the kind of debut filmmakers dream about.
It messes with you psychologically, stokes existential dread, and drips with bodily liquids worth repulsive physical effects.
Where some first features hinge on a sole signature that pulls audiences through less accomplished elements, “New Life” exposes few weaknesses.
Rossman creates a small-scale apocalypse movie that becomes achingly intimate despite the threat of worldwide eradication, weighing the disease of one against the infection of many in ways unexplored by notable comparison points like Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later” or the Pastor brothers’ “Carriers.”Sonya Walger stars as all-star fixer Elsa Gray, whose sunset years have been tainted by an Als diagnosis.
Hayley Erin plays Jessica Murdock, a mysterious woman running from Elsa toward the Canadian border.
It’s all we know at the film’s onset — Jessica is fleeing from an ailing special agent,…
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