“Sharply tackles the idea of life coaching, social media influence, and the monetization of self-improvement.”

Playing in this year’s Toronto International Film Festival Discovery section is Salvation, a confident and assured debut from Scottish director Tom Nicoll. Using wit and skill, Nicoll sharply tackles the idea of life coaching, social media influence, and the monetization of self-improvement and social media by telling the story of Danny Carlton as he pursues a career as a life coach. It’s an honest and consistently engaging first feature that feels particularly relevant to today’s modern life.

Throughout my life, I have gone to therapists. I often ask myself whether therapy is right for me or if I am getting anything out of it. Perhaps there isn’t quite a fit with the therapist, or maybe it can feel wasteful when I am being taught skills I could have otherwise learned on my own or already knew. Maybe the best thing about therapy is simply having someone to talk to about inner thoughts and intimate and private ideas. Therapists are generally educated, holding advanced degrees and, in some cases, working as psychologists or psychiatrists. They are trained and versed in their subject matter.

In the late 20th century and into the early 2000s, self-help books became widely pervasive. A plethora of writers published works about how to improve yourself, become a better version of “you,” or succeed while dealing with whatever hardships you encountered. The rise of the digital influencer has only heightened this trend. Influencers across the spectrum now reach potential clients through social media, offering their services as fitness coaches, health coaches, life coaches, and many other forms. Life coaching can seem particularly suspect, as the person who gets the most clicks or successfully works the algorithm can often become the most successful. And what type of pedigree, experience, or education do these people have? These are the questions that lie at the heart of Salvation. 

Danny, played by the skilled and penetrating Liam Harkins, is in his early thirties and attends a coaching workshop retreat led by Marshall Allison (Kevin O’Loughlin). He earns his certificate to become a life coach after only a few hours of classes and decides to pursue the career because he genuinely wants to help people. During his training, however, Danny is told that he needs to focus on monetizing his services when he attempts to gain clients. Danny insists that he really cares about helping people, but he soon learns that becoming a financially successful life coach is much harder than it seems.

Danny had taken out a loan and moved out of his mother’s house to start his business. He gains only a few initial clients and struggles to get more signups. He turns down other jobs in the hope that his life coaching career will succeed, but he continually falls further into debt as the business fails to take off. During this time, he is able to form a genuine bond with one client, Scott (Stephen McMillan), largely because Scott is the perfect prey for life coaches due to his lack of confidence and poor mental state. Despite this, Danny appears to be an honest individual who truly wants to help his client.  

From the outside, Danny just looks like a smooth talker with big blue eyes and a fit physique. He comes across almost like a snake-oil salesman, as many life coaches do. Prior to embarking on this new career, he worked as a dishwasher at a restaurant, and he seems completely out of place attempting to coach other people on how to improve their lives. Interiorly, he is authentic, but his presentation to others, combined with his past and his ability to easily charm people, can make him seem completely fake. Clients who are more in need of a friend than a life coach, like Scott, are easily persuaded, but this is not enough to keep Danny financially afloat. Perhaps his inability to succeed is also due to the social media algorithm, which Danny can never seem to crack and which is another force largely outside of his control.

Liam Harkins is deftly able to portray Danny as this complicated and complex character. The ease with which he presents the life coaching persona shows an actor with considerable skill. Danny can come across as potentially sleazy, but with much underlying depth. Harkins expresses Danny’s struggles on his face when he is embarrassed by how others perceive him or as he worries about his worsening financial situation. The way Harkins balances Danny’s emotional range of confidence, sincerity, and insecurity is beyond impressive. 

Nicoll taught himself how to make films. He did not attend film school and instead learned how to edit, shoot, and direct while working at a small commercial production company. Salvation was made on a limited budget with a small crew. At times, the limitations were apparent, with Nicoll driving costumes to the set on days when he could not afford to have a costume designer. The film was shot over only eighteen days, making what Nicoll accomplishes even more striking. There are deft shots using natural lighting that generally only more accomplished filmmakers can pull off with such ease. Nicoll’s early talent is consummate and apparent as he keeps the film engaging, hard-hitting, and resonant.

Salvation is an astute and pointed debut from Tom Nicoll, who understands the complexity of the world he is criticizing while giving humanity to the people who are inside it. Combined with Liam Harkins’ terrific lead performance and Nicoll’s confident direction, the film becomes an engaging and thoughtful work about self-help, social media, and the monetization of helping others. With Salvation, Nicoll establishes himself as a director worth watching, and this is a debut that deserves to be sought out.