Adrift is a survival story told from the perspective of Tami Oldham, a young woman who in 1983 spent 41 days lost at sea after she and fiancé Richard Sharp were caught in Hurricane Raymond. The film cuts between the aftermath of the storm and the rosier path of Oldham and Sharp’s pre-hurricane courtship. Sam Claflin (Me Before You, Their Finest) brings an earnest, clear-eyed authenticity to Sharp, giving weight to a mostly extremely physically limited role, but Shailene Woodley (the Allegiant movies, tv’s “Big Little Lies”) is the one who truly shines here. She holds the screen effortlessly as Oldham, contrasting her sunny optimism in the flashbacks with desperation and determination in the face of disaster.
– Norm Wilner, NOW Toronto
