AFI Docs 2021: Fathom
afi docs 2021Coming as both the sophomore documentary feature for Drew Xanthopoulos and the newest original documentary coming to Apple TV+, Fathom transports viewers onto the ocean alongside a group of female biologists who are attempting to understand the communication patterns of whales. Whilst nature documentaries have long served as one of the most engaging and awe-inspiring forms of the cinematic art form, with their ability to transport audiences into the magical natural world, Fathom feels like a rather lackluster addition to the genre. Caught between identities with a lack of focus or momentum, the film sadly struggles to engage audiences and get them to truly care about the subject it is capturing.
The most confused piece of Fathom's identity is simply what it is trying to say. There are multiple focuses found throughout the film, never finding the perfect balance between them to craft a meaningful final thesis. One on hand, it is a documentary focused on exploring the behavior of whales and seeking to understand their complex forms of communication that is supposed to engage audiences with the animals themselves. On another level, it is a story of scientific adventure showing research in the field with various breakthroughs scattered throughout the film's 86-minute runtime. The narrative also takes the time to get to know these biologists and their personal lives, seemingly attempting to get the audience to focus on their personal journeys. While it isn't impossible for a film to balance these various focuses and combine them into one powerful final product – such as Free Solo, for example – it requires incredibly careful craft and smart editing to accomplish, which is something that Fathom simply doesn't have.
While on the subject of the film's editing, it also doesn't help the cause that the film moves at a snail's pace. Scenes will go on and on and on as characters slowly think about what they are experiencing, and Fathom takes notes from the cinéma vérité style in the worst possible way. The film drags quite badly, which really says something considering the shorter runtime it has to fill. While the moments of breakthrough still do connect to some point, the film feels boring, quite frankly, and it is hard to imagine many who don't have an already established care for the subject matter and experience being captured being able to engage with the feature.
The other major disappointment would be the film's status as a nature documentary. While it is true that there is only so much one can do visually without disturbing the study, the film feels rather forgettable in the genre which has been revolutionised since the original 2006 Planet Earth series, with an increased focus of bringing the audience into the world of the animal subject. Especially viewing the film from home and not being in the wild with these individuals, seeing whales briefly from a distance only holds so much power when other documentaries capture incredibly underwater footage – only furthering the lackluster results the documentary is able to produce.
While Fathom is in no way a disaster, it also is hard to find much to love about the film either. For audience members wanting a raw look at the world of scientific study, this will probably fill that niche fine, but for anyone else, the film simply lacks much that would feel rewarding. More than being bad, it is simply boring and average to the point where it is hard to imagine many finding a worthwhile viewing experience from the project.
