The American Side

For a specifically tailored thriller, "The American Tide" might satisfy the fans of classic genre with its suave cinematography, brash dialogues and distinct plot surrounding Tesla. However, many of the characters are thrown in haphazardly, the subplots pile in while the detective moves forward and aside from a couple of catchphrases there's not much connection to be had.

At first look, the movie has all the signs of noir, it's only lacking the actual word plastered on the opening title. The visual is engaging, using a slight modern touch for the lingering last century style, heavily resembling Art Deco. The camera angles are finely tuned and nicely position for romantic effect, which is definitely a boon to establish any scene of this nature.

The characters trade banter with bravado, this might be entertaining for a brief period yet it's not a substitute for full character development. In many points the plot moves by introducing new people or twist, although the writing feels like many short stories sewn in together with only one lining.

The most glaring obstacle is it doesn't provide sense of urgency or threat, the plot progresses, or stumbles forward, but the drive for characters is timid. It is visually pleasing and filled with noir elements, but it's only partially riveting.

"That's a gene pool screamin' for chlorine." That is just one of many one liners I enjoyed in this film. And I have to like a middle aged balding guy who writes a film about the designs of Nicola Tesla and places it in his hometown of Buffalo. And he plays the lead - a churlish hardboiled detective (slightly Bruce Willis inspired). Good for you Greg Stuhr! His character reminds me of Bosch - if you have seen that Series.

Buffalo and Niagara Falls make interesting locations. There are a lot of great shots of the Falls. There are four decent female roles which I like. Plus some major talent with Matthew Broderick and a few old stars like Robert Vaughn and Robert Forster, who has 177 credits to his name.

Both cinematography and the sound track are excellent. It is slightly too long. The plot is a somewhat convoluted but I don't care. I like this movie and I like the aspiration of making such a film on a small budget. And would love to see Greg Stuhr playing a detective on one of the cable or network cop shows.

In order for the American Side to work, even a little bit, it's essential that you know nothing about Tesla, the man who developed alternating current. Because if you know of him, you'd know that he had no such dream of creating the mcguffin that drives the movie. Because the premise is ridiculous, the lengths to which various individuals and groups go to acquire the plans is simply not believable. But this movie has other shortcomings besides. To advance the plot, the protagonist, a down-in-the-mouth gumshoe who drives a Dodge Dart, is given entree to daytime cocktail parties and evening soirees where he is able to chat up the rich who for some reason feed him bits and snatches of what they're up to instead of simply calling the cops and having the guy thrown out. The movie is also replete with coincidences and characters whose function is to provide knowledge so as to advance the mystery, but whose fortuitous appearance stretches credulity. For example, the boat owner who hired our hero early in the film and to whom our hero returns in one of his hours of need just happens to teach physics and knows all about Tesla. There's more, but it's just too silly.

what a treat. this little gem of a movie just proves what can be done with a small budget, a great script and a director with a vision. love that it's a throwback and we can have drama, intrigue and a fun, twisty plot and never have to see problems solved with smartphones! it also has a fantastic look and feel. such a love letter to buffalo and to the work of tesla too. it's a blast solving the mystery while you get an education about a great inventor who the world doesn't really know. also, it's great so see so many new faces mixed in with so many veteran actors. you can just tell that it was made with love and care and with great admiration for some of the great noir thrillers of yesteryear.

God, what this film could have been. Solid actors, good and sometimes great cinematography, extraordinary locations and a plot around Nikola Tesla's secret inventions. And it is even decently produced. But man, why why why did nobody realize the script was not at that same level at all??? Why did nobody stop the film's development until it was??? I don't know the director but the old rule of cinema says that it is almost impossible to make a good film out of a bad script. "The American Side" is a textbook example to that rule. There are plot holes everywhere, the characters are all overdeveloped on some narrow aspects that make them "authentic" in the moments - mostly the scenes that introduce them - but not enough to render them credible. The male protagonist's motivations shift continuously and although we learn about many of his habits, at the end we have no clue who he really is and what makes him tick. The worst is that plot- and story-logic are both awfully flawed in so many places that to call this film a "thriller" would be an insult to the genre. Again, I am not saying this to be mean, but because it made me sad to see so much potential go wasted so badly.

A film about Nicola Tesla's secret inventions would have deserved a better story, a better writer, and probably a better producer (not sure about the director, see above).

There is not much more to say about this. No, this is not an indie, this is unfortunately not a film. And that is REALLY a pity. Really.