Michael Meadows

Growing up on the Atlantic in New England shoreline fishing communities, I felt this movie through the venerable cast of characters portraying the struggling livelihood of what it means to survive on the water. Veteran actors, Tommy Lee Jones, Tim Daly, Ben Foster, and Jenna Ortega, along with newcomers Toby Wallace, and Ismael Cruz Córdova, lend credence to the emotions held captive by industries that don't care what it takes to get what it wants, criminally, or through honest hard work. The film takes its time in showing a somewhat broken family dynamic throughout the beginning and middle, to finally introduce the crime and rekindle what were thought lost relationships in the latter third. The familial dynamics in being on the water and away from families for extended periods of time, along with the hit or miss seafaring industry... sacrificial tolls are sewn into the fabric of every family that thrives on the whim of a good catch or the patriarchal tough love of a father who will do what he deems necessary to wanting nothing but the best successes for his children and their survivability. Jenna and Toby take on the newly found love of wanting each to succeed in their future endeavors for a hopeful future together.