Fantasia Film Festival 2020 Screening – There’s an undercurrent of forward momentum to the measured pace that helps push things along when a light layer of dread isn’t enough. A bit of wheel spinning takes place in a mid-section that could have shaved five or ten minutes off, but once the movie’s finished padding it ends up being a well-done time I like but don’t quite love.

Tom (Neville Archambault) awakens on the floor of his boat, bobbing softly on the water, confused as to how he got there or how long he’s been out. Tom’s son, Harry (Chris Sheffield), isn’t sure what to do about his dad’s worsening condition or even what it is–sleepwalking? Drunken blackouts? Dementia? If that’s not enough, the tons of dead fish washing up on the island’s beaches bring his sister, Audry (Michaela McManus), out to investigate for work with her daughter, Matilda (Matilda Lawler), dragged along since she can’t stay on the mainland home alone. Overburdened & hostile Harry clashes with Audry–as well as anyone in arm’s reach–more and more as a strange sound takes hold of his life. Audry desperately wants to help but that proves more difficult with the odd occurrences of every passing day…

Standout elements of The Block Island Sound off the top of my head and with some thought would definitely be lead performances from Michaela McManus & Chris Sheffield, the sound design, and the whole supporting atmosphere of the island as well as those who live there. It’s the kind of small island that’s a tourist madhouse a few months of the year, reaching a height of fifteen or twenty thousand part-time residents/visitors, before all but a thousand (if that) head back to wherever they come from leaving Block Island lifers to the off-season doom & gloom. 

Sheffield’s Harry genuinely seems exasperated with his life, bitter at many for choosing to live their own, and secretly desperate for help to change things but too worried of what might be different afterwards. Not to say he’s always miserable and humorless in daily life, he provides some laughs now and again, but happiness probably isn’t a frequent emotion. Michaela McManus as Audry doesn’t appear to share his bitterness, but the exasperation is apparently a family trait. I remember her from brief stints on SVU & the quickly cancelled Awake, both of which clearly had no use for her which is a shame because if actually given a character to play she’s evidently capable. 

The rest of the cast portray people who come across like many small town/small island people I’ve crossed paths with in life and steer clear of hickish or quirky traits often paraded around, like being needlessly dismissive, antagonistic, dumb, gullible, and more. I enjoyed the reasonable police chief (Willie C. Carpenter), the friendly enough conspiracy theorist (Jim Cummings), and Neville Archambault as Tom, Harry and Audry’s dad, certainly has a special weirdness to him. In addition to the actors, the crew bring their A-game in making the island and its waters an ever-present setting–you won’t ever forget they’re in a relatively small, sedate island town and I always appreciate a living backdrop.

Now, having said all that stuff I liked about The Block Island Sound, there’s a monologue from one character fairly early on that I found way too obvious in terms of what it meant going forward which then gets played over the end of the film again–in case you didn’t get it the first time. It was glaringly on-the-nose to the point I thought it was a misdirect, only it wasn’t. Hardly a deal-breaker, but it does make the first viewing feel a little like a re-viewing where the coded conversations become explicit once you know where it’s headed. Also, this isn’t a gory murder scene kind of experience so don’t plan on bloody jolts.

If you’re in the mood to spend a foreboding and creepy hour and a half on a small somber island town where a mysterious sound has unpredictable fallout I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. 

7 out of 10 Unexplainable Sounds