TIFF 2025 | Movie Review: “The Son And The Sea” Shines As A Poignant Journey of Friendship and Personal Growth
11/12 ForReel Score | 4.5/5 Stars
As a feature directorial debut, the ambition that director Stroma Cairns approaches The Son And The Sea with is laudable, and the final product is praiseworthy.
The Son And The Sea follows best friends Jonah (Jonah West) and Lee (Stanley Brock) on an impromptu trip to an isolated town on the northern Scottish coast. Jonah wants a reprieve from his unfulfilling and unproductive lifestyle and uses an obligation to visit his ailing aunt as the reason to get away with Lee tagging along, reluctantly coerced into being a travel companion. Upon arriving, they’re befriended by Charlie (Connor Tompkins), a deaf local young man who is struggling to deal with the consequences of his twin brother’s decisions (Luke, played by real life twin brother Lewis Tompkins).
Like the waves crashing against the coastline, there is great unrest amongst and within these main characters - Jonah is trying to sort out his way in life, Lee at his wit’s end with Jonah’s immaturity, and Charlie is owning too much of the responsibility of his brother’s choices. But there are also great moments of connection, camaraderie, contentment, and even vulnerability that exists within the bond these characters have, and combined with the naturalistic cinematography, immersive sound design, and exceptional performances, the sum of all these parts equates to a gem of a film that is bound to be the discovery of any festival program or screening venue it’s a part of.
I describe The Son And The Sea as a cross between Bill and Turner Ross’s Gasoline Rainbow, James Griffiths’s The Ballad of Wallace Island, and Nora Fingscheidt’s The Outrun.
Like Gasoline Rainbow, audiences spend a sizable amount of The Son And The Sea wandering through the minutiae of these characters’ daily lives - pitstops and uncharted plans included - where narrative storytelling occasionally takes on swaths of documentarian filmmaking. This makes sense with Stroma’s record of success on short form documentaries, like her work on If You Knew (which features the twin actors Connor and Lewis Tompkins as primary documentary subjects). Leaning into that skillset is so perfectly complementary to the dramatized character development we experience in this narrative project.
But also like The Ballad of Wallace Island, this is a film that finds a small ensemble of characters isolated in a small, remote place that naturally offers opportunity for community, self reflection, and yes, even musical performance - namely a beautiful acoustic rendition of “The False Knight On The Road” performed by Dawn Sievewright and Jocelyn West that has me pining for a copy of this film’s soundtrack.
Yet, the film has the look and feel of The Outrun: often bleak, grey, and windswept - a byproduct of both films taking place in the Scottish north. Here in The Son And The Sea, this relatively desolate setting also proves to be fertile ground for introspection, self-discovery, and adventure.
The biggest drawback to The Son And The Sea, however, is the script’s attempts to conform to traditional narrative storytelling. External conflicts are the achilles heel of the film. When it seems that the story has lingered in slice-of-life territory for too long, a sudden external conflict has to present itself to presumably keep the movie interesting. A drug-harboring subplot arises momentarily that threatens the safety of a younger supporting character, Sandy (Grant Lindsay), but the effects of this sequence don’t really have meaningful consequences or a resolution by the end of the movie; it’s easy to forget this was even a problem before the end. And a sudden accident marks the climax for the film, but the circumstances are so haphazard that I found it difficult to buy into the characters’ solidarity any more than I already had in the perfectly executed scenes leading up to this moment.
The Son And The Sea does not need contrived external conflicts to be a great, engaging story. I am most enthralled with this film when the more grounded interpersonal interactions and internal conflicts are front and center: when Jonah and Lee are gradually coming to terms with the fractures in their friendship, or when the priorities of Luke and Charlie are at odds.
This keen eye on relationships - close male relationships nonetheless - is what distinguishes The Son And The Sea and gives great payoff to the more tender moments in the film. Watching these characters navigate their dynamics with each other is why I am eager to return to this movie over and over again. In concert with co-writer Imogen West and a cast with incredible chemistry, The Son And The Sea authentically showcases themes of responsibility, purpose, and connection that are best conveyed through this organic eye on self-discovery and personal growth.
A verse that is frequently repeated in the aforementioned song “The False Knight On The Road” states “...it was well that he stood.” In the context of the ballad, this line conveys how resolute and resilient the child in the song is in articulating wise and crafty responses to an intimidating entity. In facing the daunting task of crafting a film with naturalistic sensibilities and a sincere, heartfelt journey with these characters in The Son And The Sea, Stroma Cairns delivers a deeply resonant cinematic statement that commands your attention; indeed she stood, and it was well that she stood.
Acting/Casting - 2 | Visual Effects and Editing - 2 | Story and Message - 1 | Entertainment Value - 2 | Music Score and Soundtrack - 2 | Reviewer’s Preference - 2 | What does this mean?