Drowning Dry (2024)

-Written by Kyle Bain. 

Attempting to get away and celebrate some recent victories in life, Ernesta (Gelminė Glemžaitė) and Juste (Agnė Kaktaitė) travel with their families to a lake house. What was once a relaxing weekend quickly turns into tragedy. Drowning Dry takes viewers on an intense journey steeped in mystery and trauma. 

Drowning Dry initially appears to be a linear story, one in which viewers are carried through from start to finish without interruption. However, Somewhere around the halfway point the film’s structure suddenly changes, becoming intentionally fractured and inherently more difficult to follow. Drowning Dry follows no particular structure, bouncing around between past and present, providing only miniscule pieces of a greater puzzle that viewers are effectively asked to put together on their own by the film’s conclusion. Viewers are forced to constantly ask questions like “how did we get here?” and “where are we in the story?,” requiring those viewers to play along throughout the course of Drowning Dry. By being mysterious in its presentation and refusing to spoon feed viewers, the film is brilliantly effective in keeping viewers focused, intrigued, and ultimately floored by its conclusion. 

Writer-Director Laurynas Bareiša (also the director of photography) often uses long shots to frame the families, creating multiple desired effects. Most importantly it keeps viewers separated from the action, allowing the idea of Drowning Dry playing out as something of a mystery to work more effectively. By creating separation, viewers often aren’t privy to the facial expressions of many of the characters–again, strengthening the level of mystery and suspense present in the film. Furthermore, Drowning Dry is a much bigger story than it initially appears to be. There are far more moving parts than are first presented to viewers, and using those aforementioned long shots reflects this sentiment. It allows viewers to understand that what is currently happening on screen is only a small part of a whole, and while it may ultimately play a significant role in the grand scheme of the narrative, it’s still simply a piece. 

What’s so interesting about Bareiša’s use of cinematography is that, while he uses those long shots to create a specific effect, there are a series of moments in which he uses close-ups to create a uniquely different effect. Drowning Dry often pulls us in close when something significant is being revealed, or a bit of the mystery begins to subside. Bareiša effectively removes viewers when necessary and juxtapositionally hammers them with emotion when he sees fit. His understanding of the role that cinematography plays in Drowning Dry works to drive the film and unveil specific details when and how he sees fit. He’s wildly successful in this regard–clearly possessing an expertise in this field that is ever-present throughout Drowning Dry. 

Drowning Dry plays out as a mystery in which viewers aren’t even aware of what they are trying to solve. The push and pull, the back and forth constantly provides viewers with something to latch onto–and the brilliant cinematography takes us in an out of the story when it’s appropriate. Drowning Dry is a stunning film that uses what it has available to immerse viewers in a world of tragedy and refuses to let them go until the credits roll.

Written & Directed by Laurynas Bareiša.

Starring Gelminė Glemžaitė, Agnė Kaktaitė, Giedrius Kiela, Paulius Markevičius, Olivija Eva Viliūnė, etc. 

8/10 = WORTH RENTING OR BUYING