In an arrangement we assume he has done many times before, a fisherman picks up two Cuban immigrants in order to smuggle them into the US. With cash in hand, he continues the game by setting up for a night's fishing to justify the trip to anyone paying attention. However it is during that fishing where another passenger is picked up – seemingly from the bottom of the ocean.
This is a very odd but very nicely constructed film with a certain level of horror to it, but based very much in chills and tension. The film opens well, with a contained scenario which has reggae music (the oft sampled Bam Bam) and cool opening titles, but yet also has a visual tone to it that suggests claustrophobia and tension. This tone is carried well and it worked even when we suddenly find ourselves with an instantly odd scenario of the new passenger. From here the film sort of unfolds the way you expect, but it does it with a subdued tone that never blows its load on big gestures, but rather continues just to creep you out. Indeed it is so good at this that it never really does more until the final few seconds, and then it is done – letting the viewer understand why it put all the credits up front.
It is an odd complaint but I did want more time from it. I thought the film could have easily have stood to gain from a few more minutes of this tension (when it is done so well), and at least a few more seconds of that strong ending – the abruptness of it is part of its strength perhaps, but it could have had this and still given a little more. Hard not to like for what it does well though, it is a contained film and draws a lot from how well it uses this, moving quickly while also feeling like it is a slow build, producing a lot, while really showing us very little.
