Cinema Reviews
The Sea Review
Ciaran Hinds gets to take centre stage in this drama about Max, a recently widowed man, who takes a trip back to a place where he spent as a boy, during a summer where he met a rather aloof family.
In flashback we see the interaction he had with the family and the resulting impact it had on him during such an early stage of puberty, as well as the dramatic impact the events that happened have.
The Sea is beautifully shot and the modern greys of old age are contrasted well with an almost super 8 home movie feel for scenes set in the past as Max remembers key moments.
The trouble is that the two time frames never quite relate to each other as well as you’d like. Both concern personal loss, but never make perfect sense as perhaps the place Max should be, or the thoughts he should be thinking about in relation to his recently passed wife as she is not remotely a part of the past he is remembering.
But if it is melancholy you seek in your pictures then this is an ideal candidate for inspection – especially in terms of nailing down the look, feel and character atmospherics. It has some strong performances – and it is nice to see Hinds in a leading role, as opposed to character acting support as we normally see him. But even great performances and truly magnificent visual worthy of a big screen, and even an under 90 minute running time can’t help but make the experience feel depressing and long.
Steven Hurst