Neptune (2015)

Set in a tight-knit island community off the coast of Maine, Neptune unfolds around a tragic loss and Hannah Newcombe's budding struggle for independence as a young woman. The rocky coastline forms a breathtakingly beautiful backdrop for this quite yet suspenseful story.

This film has some really fantastic cinematography and the shots of the coastline during golden hour left me breathless. In fact the more I reflect on the movie as a whole, the more I keep coming back to that thin line where ocean meets the rocky coast. If you've ever swam near such a shoreline you know that there is a serene beauty to floating amongst gently rolling waves, however those same gentle waves can seem terrifying when you suddenly find yourself too close to the rocks. Neptune is filled with a similar quiet tranquility, yet there is also an undeniable undertow of tension and suspense.

There is a clear reverence not just for the place, but for it's people too. In any tight-knit community the boundaries and labels of modern living get blurred by familiarity and interdependence. Lines between good and bad, cruel and generous, funny and heartless are hard to pin down. Even the rather tyrannical cleric and foster father Jerry Cook (played by Tony Reilly) winds up to be a bit more Willie Loman-esque than outright unlikable. That said, the one thing which kept this from being a full 10 stars for me is that there are moments where several of the characters appear to have been pressed into dramatic service, filling conflicting roles over the course of the film without a clear evolution in their personality which would motivate such an alteration in their actions.

If you enjoy quiet and subtle films which unfold in a gorgeous setting then Neptune is definitely worth checking out.