Jetsam Review

From its boldly mysterious opening - a man and a woman are washed up on a chilly English beach and immediately locked into battle - first time writer-director Simon Welsford spins out an accomplished little thriller about corporate chicanery, fractured memories, lost identity and consuming obsession - though who those memories belong to, and the subject of that obsession are as integral to the mystery as how Grace (Alex Reid) and Kemp (Jamie Draven) came to be floating unconscious in the freezing North Sea.

Jetsam, which was made for just three grand in 14 days, is a tantalisingly ambiguous debut, one part Memento, one part shadowy psychodrama and one part moody meditation on the secret life of the spy. There are several other parts to Welsford's cunningly constructed plot too, but it is impossible to discuss these without dropping massive, clanging spoilers. Welsford's great skill is in creating a tense and atmospheric story in which each element topples, domino-like, onto the next.

From that enigmatic opening, Jetsam flashes back to the past, tracking in episodic fashion the chain of events that landed Grace and Kemp on the shore, where he's trying to kill her for reasons she can't recall. In the past, it transpires, Grace was the hunter - a spy studying corporate scientist Jack (Cal Macaninch) who is working on a project which he cannot discuss with anyone. It's a delicate web of secret loyalties and evasive liaisons in which the line between lover, handler, watcher and watched slowly evaporates.

Welsford's three grand would barely cover the cost of Jason Bourne's suit, but the skilfully constructed plot and carefully calibrated tension are testament to a potent screenplay. The forward impetus of the plot - even when it's actually going backwards - and the quiet ingenuity of the writing suggest a young Michael Winterbottom shaping ,well, maybe a Jason Bourne movie. That sense of streamlined efficiency is matched by a sensitive eye for the eerie as Welsford tracks Grace's growing paranoia.

Like Memento, when you've invested so much intrigue into premise and plot, you better hope for a profitable pay-off. With 10 minutes to go and the story spinning in dizzy circles, Jetsam still has one trick up its sleeve. Money might have made it more dramatic, but it's a satisfying end to an ambitious debut in which everyone is both spider and fly.