When someone says “nothing’s gonna happen,” it’s typically a safe bet that something’s gonna happen. In “A Rising Tide,” set in Atlantic City, N.J., on Oct. 29, 2012, during Hurricane Sandy, an impending crisis is expected.
News and radio stations warn people to evacuate, but stubborn, young cook Sam Rama (Hunter Parrish) refuses to leave. Instead, he invites his friends over for a hurricane party at his father’s restaurant. The town is pummeled and the restaurant is destroyed, leaving Sam to move forward and rebuild while learning the importance of making connections with the people around him.
In the first 10 minutes of the film, the storm passes. Or the first storm, at least.
This film leaves so many open doors, and not just ones blown off their hinges by the storm. Left with a number of unanswered questions, and slowly, very slowly, getting small clues, “A Rising Tide” feels longer than 98 minutes. I kept waiting for the crisis, the “something” that had to be coming. Sam alludes to tragedy after the storm, “after what happened,” but all that seems to come from this distress is the blame he places on himself for the damage to his family’s restaurant.
Enter Sarah Bell (Ashley Hinshaw), an unhappily married woman, who falls for Sam. While the tension between Sam and Sarah’s husband provides multiple fight scenes, it doesn’t lead to much else. Even a late-night swim scene with a near-drowning resolves almost instantly.
Any opportunity for major crisis falls flat. Sure, fist fights, destruction of property, and struggling to earn enough money are all important issues to face, but none are compelling enough to turn the tide. Possible conflicts arise, yet are subsequently shoved aside to face the next problem, the next storm.
Rather than being a moving, powerful drama about the aftermath of a devastating hurricane, “A Rising Tide” is almost more of a cooking film. It features beautifully plated dishes that match the almost-too-perfect nature — at least on the surface — of the pretty houses, people, and town, or at least of the part that was able to rebuild.
With the exception of a somehow well-rebuilt restaurant when everything else in town seems to be struggling to repair, Sam is left with next to nothing as the film follows the issues he faces in both his professional and personal lives. Working to put his failed New York restaurant behind him and wanting to make up the loss of the family restaurant to his dad, Sam sets out to start up a new place in town.
Luckily, the classic movie portrayal of neighborly small-town life benefits him, as everyone is willing to pitch in. Even a rich guy, Tom Blake (Tim Daly), whom Sam meets early on and inexplicitly becomes close friends with, helps out in the end.
With the only real crisis being money, or lack of it, “A Rising Tide” is extremely slow-paced. The film is dialogue heavy and requires a high level of patience to gain any sort of character development or backstory.
The actors portray their roles well, it’s just that the characters do not have much depth. While they each have troubled pasts filled with loss and pain, it is not enough to obtain the emotional response that could have been drawn by this film.
“A Rising Tide” screens Friday, May 29, at 9 p.m. and Saturday, May 30, at 3:30 p.m. at SIFF Cinema Uptown. Director Ben Hickernell and actor Victor Slezak are scheduled to attend.
The verdict: “A Rising Tide” certainly has plenty to deal with: money, marriage, love, heartbreak, food, and Hurricane Sandy. This film serves up a slice of life in the aftermath of one of the largest natural disasters of the previous decade, but is surprisingly lacking in crisis.
Reach Copy Chief Kathryn Altena at development@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @kkaltena
