‘Submersible’ Review: A Grimy, Claustrophobic, Deeply Generic Submarine Thriller

There are lost-at-sea thrillers that make a virtue of the leanness of their narratives. J.C. Chandor’s “All Is Lost,” Wolfgang Fischer’s “Styx” and Chris Kentis’ legitimately traumatizing “Open Water” (not to mention Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity” if we switch in space for ocean) all spun gripping tales of survival — or not — using minimal dialogue and very little character backstory. But the pitfalls of this less-is-more approach are laid bare in Alfredo León León’s “Submersible,” the Ecuadorian international Oscar hopeful, which musters adequate tension from its setting on a leaky narco-submarine, but too often resorts to generic plot beats and… Read Full Article