Float (2024), by Sherren Lee
Cinema is always looking for literary best-sellers to buy the rights and adapt these already people-approved stories to the screen. It was no surprise that cinema would evolve with literature and start looking for stories that went viral online. It happened with “Cat Person”, released last year and based on a story published on a magazine. But cinema went further this time with “Float”, based on a story by Kate Marchant first published on literary social network Wattpad.
Waverly (Andrea Bang) is a medical school student who goes visit her aunt Rachel (Michelle Krusiec) unannounced in a small town in Canada. While in there, Waverly falls into a lake and, not knowing how to swim, needs to be rescued by lifeguard Blake (Robbie Amell). He is Rachel’s neighbor, and the two youngsters bond quickly and he soon offers to give her swimming lessons.
Waverly then decides to spend the summer with her aunt instead of going to Toronto for a research project. She takes a job as a barista at a local bar and becomes close to Blake’s sister Isabel (Sarah Desjardins). It’s pretty clear from the beginning that Waverly and Blake will become romantically involved, but they will also have to face the separation that will come when the summer ends.
One pivotal relationship in the movie is the one between Blake and Isabel. He has been taking care of her since their parents died, ten years prior, but as any good teenager Isabel wants her freedom and feels that her brother lives to control her. Blake, on the other hand, believes his sister is not mature enough to share with her the hardships of their lives. A heart-to-heart will be necessary for them to solve their problems.
Waverly has been avoiding her mother’s phone calls and not answering her text messages. Waverly’s parents moved back from Chicago to Taipei, Taiwan, when she started boarding school, and she hasn’t seen them in four years. She also doesn’t tell them that she gave up her Toronto plans to stay at her aunt’s. For them, more than a heart-to-heart will be necessary.
Other important characters in “Float” are Lena and Van, a couple that owns the bar Waverly starts working. They are expecting their first child and bring the often necessary “diversity quota” to the movie. They are not very well-developed characters but are important to drive the plot.
As it always happens, changes were made from the original source. In Kate Marchant’s novel, Waverly and Blake are teenagers and she goes visit her aunt in Florida amid her parents’ divorce. There is also no mention of Waverly being Asian-American and the original plot is more about the trope “enemies to lovers”, while the movie chooses the “love at first sight” trope to explore.
IMDb lists 21 directing credits for “Float” director Sherren Lee, many of them TV series. She also co-wrote the screenplay for “Float”, adding to seven other scripts she wrote, according to IMDb. She drew from her own experience to shape the lead in her feature debut: just like Waverly, Sherren was born in Taiwan and moved with her parents to Canada, where she pursues her career that has already given her several awards.
What seemed to be a predictable love story turned out to be so much more. “Float” brought discussions about family, friendship, love, life and how hard it is to be a girl — even though this latter, a very important subject, is not explored in depth. The Lionsgate official website for “Float” mentions, as other movies you might like if you liked it, “Dirty Dancing” (1987), “Silver Linings Playbook” (2012) and “La La Land” (2016). They are all solid romantic flicks, as is “Float”: a lovely surprise, in a nutshell.
