Snorkeling

Director Emil Nava presents Snorkeling, written by Jack Follman, and tells the love story of a quiet teen couple named Michael (Daniel Zolghadri) and Jameson (Kristine Froseth). Their relationship centers around experiences with a new hallucinogenic drug. As the two drift into each other’s orbit, they find themselves in an intense emotional relationship, but they seem to have replaced sex with drugs. 

Jameson introduces Michael to “snorkeling,” which is the inhalation of a fictitious drug called “nitroxin,” street name: “troxy,” through an oxygen mask attached to a canister that looks like a heavily accessorized vape. Adults warning against the use of the drug point out its dangers, including addiction and terrible side effects. The film also features quick cuts of kids talking about how they got started with the drug and the mind-expanding experiences they have had with it. Troxy is a psychedelic with similar effects to acid, except it is addictive.

Michael shoots everything on his camera influencer-style. There’s a pervasive faux-documentary style in the film as Jameson and Michael introduce themselves formally on camera, breaking the fourth wall. The opening scene is one of a realistic police raid on a house where kids are doing troxy. 

“Their relationship centers around experiences with a new hallucinogenic drug.“

Narratively, there is no three-act structure; Snorkeling plays more like an elongated series of emotional tones set in key moments. The film is shot through with the desperation of a generation of young people who feel betrayed by their parents. The future looks bleak, particularly compared to the technicolor trips full of euphoric peace and calm offered by the drug. The animation in the trips is reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Of course, as with all chemical shortcuts, eventually the drug takes its toll when the escape begins to turn dark. 

Nava is a well-regarded music video creator and folds that talent into the directing style, particularly in the visualizations of the psychedelic trips, and in the artful use of music to set the tone for scenes. Powerful images and emotions paint the drama, but for a film meant to convey the horrors of addiction, this is a bit too clean and pretty. Trainspotting this is not. Zolghadri and Froseth give us a contemporary analog to Romeo and Juliet.

Snorkeling is the time-honored story of disaffected youth drawn into drug culture and addiction, while coming into their own as they explore the world and their own minds. Nava has beautifully updated this journey for Gen-Z. Representation matters, so while nothing that happens is new, seeing the experience through the eyes of this generation illuminates what it means now for everyone, regardless of age.

Science note: Nitroxin is the name of a real cardiac medication for the treatment of angina, but it is not a hallucinogen.