Serenity
Directed by Steven Knight
- thriller
- mystery
- drama
The story
The quiet life of Baker Dill, a fishing boat captain who lives on the isolated Plymouth Island, where he spends his days obsessed with capturing an elusive tuna while fighting his personal demons, is interrupted when someone from his past comes to him searching for help.
What it’s like
Sun-bleached and humid, with saturated blues of open ocean, bleached wood of a battered fishing boat, and the green-black density of tropical scrub, Serenity looks like a sweaty, slightly hallucinatory postcard that has been left out too long. Its camera lingers in wide, still shots of sea and sky, and the frame often sits tight on faces, sweat and cigarette smoke caught in the heat. The score swells with a dreamy, synth-tinged pulse that tips the mood toward unease, and the island's quiet is punctuated by the rattle of engines and clatter of tackle. The vibe is languid noir, hot and off-kilter, the sort of thing best watched late at night when you want a mood that feels slightly unreal. Pacing is deliberate and sometimes dreamlike, with long stretches of brooding silence broken by sudden shifts in tone. The emotional register is melancholic and strange, following a damaged man who drinks, obsesses and avoids his own history until the past catches up with him. Intensity is moderate: there is some violence, drinking and references to domestic abuse, with the darker moments landing as tense and sometimes brutal rather than gory. It suits viewers who enjoy odd, moody thrillers with a dreamlike edge and a heavy atmosphere.
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