(Filmmaker in person)

What manner of mind, after paying $19,000 with another like mind to enter the Atlantic Rowing Challenge, would then subject its body to row 3,000 miles from the Canary Islands to Barbados in a hand-built boat containing provisions for any eventuality? Row Hard No Excuses is nothing short of enthralling as it documents eventualities both expected and unexpected for the two-person crews, particularly Jack and Tom, a middle-aged American duo, competing in the Challenge. No mere sportsadventure film, Row Hard is a dramatic illustration of the ambitions of the mind and the limitations of the body as they race towards the promise of one sort of finish line and away from another, inevitable kind.

(2007, 88 min.) – G.R.