Honestly, I'm only 21:00 min deep, but l'm blown away by the DP.
Movies are like food, beverage, music: you find it palatable or don't, depending on your taste buds. It's a pleasure for me to stumble upon a beautifully filmed piece as this. I give it an 8, as the story isn't stellar, the plot trivial, but the cinamatography pulls on its bootstraps and I find myself pausing just to observe the shots. I'm currently annoying a friend sending him screne grabs: "Look at that framing. Notice the edge of the house and balcony create ANOTHER perfect triangle to the backdrop. Even the watertower is rectangular and falls into the rule of thirds."
I'm sensing th DP iintentionally focusing on lines, rectangles, squares. During the initial road trip to the island: the pickup and the shadow trailing; the fence posts; the stilts on houses. Then the waterway. Like greek columns rising. Even the palm trees provide rectangular symmetry. The concave building with square windows. At the beach house, the kitchen cabinets, starcase, vents, panelling. All these were thoughtfully chosen.
Upstairs bedroom: bunkbed, vents, blinds, staircase railing. It's obvious the DP was viewing Galveston through the eyes of rectangular symmetry. Although the film from a storytelling standpoint isn't a masterpiece, the visuals make it a gem on my list.
Don't get me wrong, the humor is there, the acting is fine; it's simply a matter of the visuals overarching the story, in IMO. With that said, the story itself is not a pass. You can still enjoy the story without creaming over the visuals.
Bottom line, if you're into cinamatography, don't pass on it. Folks giving it one star are not fans of the visual nor slow storytelling. Hat off to the DP. Good on you.
