Beginning with an Edgar Allen Poe quote and having been filmed in the same town as Hitchcock's "The Birds," it is clear that this movie is going to take you on a thrilling journey. And that it did. Seemingly innocent at first, journalist Ed Hale (played by the talented James Gaudioso) comes to town to cover a theater production story. But we quickly find out that in actuality, he has come to uncover the truth about the death of a woman, and the husband that was left behind. The wife's family, made up of miscreant personalities, believes that the husband, Joseph Hawthorne, had something to do with it. One especially so, Jack Lee, who is unsettling and terrifying, only so because of Anthony Gaudioso's striking, formidable, and incredible performance. Joseph Hawthorne is haunted by his wife Annabelle's death, as he is unsure of what happened and if he actually played a part in it. Joseph struggles with bipolar disorder (accurately and wonderfully played by Maurice Benard), going through manic episodes where he plays out that day on the boat and even imagines Annabelle, "The Ghost," in front of him at home. His conversations with "The Whale," voiced by the incomparable Jonathan Pryce, is his way of processing what happened and whether it was him who killed Annabelle, or it was the whale that led her to fall into the ocean.
Jack and the other Lee family members go on a bit of a rampage, violently assaulting the journalist Ed and even setting their cousin Mitch's barn on fire with him in it. They are firm in their belief that Joseph killed their sister and that this journalist is bringing up things they don't want to hear. As Mitch says, they don't want to hear the truth that it was an accident. They won't believe it, even if someone in their own family says so. People sometimes will go to extraordinary lengths to hide their grief, and the Lee family does just that.
This ultimately leads to a showdown of sorts between Jack, Joseph, and Ed. Jack, haven taken Joseph's new friend Sweetie, mocks him by standing with her in the ocean while he frighteningly teeters at the shoreline. Jack then pushes her aside and attacks Joseph, and begin to fight. Ed, meanwhile, is up on the dune shotgun in hand, waiting for a clear shot. When an opportunity appears, he pulls the trigger and shoots Jack dead. It is then that Joseph gets clarity -- Annabelle's death was an accident after all -- and he makes peace with the ocean, walking into it to join his friend "The Whale."
The ocean's duality, functioning in both a destructive and healing nature, is important, especially with it being a quaint seaside town, the two being connected like one lung to the other. The townspeople and the ocean coexist with each other. Writers have always used that relationship, as does Anthony Gaudioso in this beautiful, riveting story. As someone who grew up in a seaside town, I thoroughly enjoyed this film and its off-kiltered way of showing the importance of truth, the multiple facets of grief, and the way a town will hide them both.
Jack and the other Lee family members go on a bit of a rampage, violently assaulting the journalist Ed and even setting their cousin Mitch's barn on fire with him in it. They are firm in their belief that Joseph killed their sister and that this journalist is bringing up things they don't want to hear. As Mitch says, they don't want to hear the truth that it was an accident. They won't believe it, even if someone in their own family says so. People sometimes will go to extraordinary lengths to hide their grief, and the Lee family does just that.
This ultimately leads to a showdown of sorts between Jack, Joseph, and Ed. Jack, haven taken Joseph's new friend Sweetie, mocks him by standing with her in the ocean while he frighteningly teeters at the shoreline. Jack then pushes her aside and attacks Joseph, and begin to fight. Ed, meanwhile, is up on the dune shotgun in hand, waiting for a clear shot. When an opportunity appears, he pulls the trigger and shoots Jack dead. It is then that Joseph gets clarity -- Annabelle's death was an accident after all -- and he makes peace with the ocean, walking into it to join his friend "The Whale."
The ocean's duality, functioning in both a destructive and healing nature, is important, especially with it being a quaint seaside town, the two being connected like one lung to the other. The townspeople and the ocean coexist with each other. Writers have always used that relationship, as does Anthony Gaudioso in this beautiful, riveting story. As someone who grew up in a seaside town, I thoroughly enjoyed this film and its off-kiltered way of showing the importance of truth, the multiple facets of grief, and the way a town will hide them both.