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The Son and the Sea

Play trailer Poster for The Son and the Sea 2025 1h 42m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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In her arresting feature debut, Stroma Cairns captures young masculinity with nuance, empathy, and startling insight. Living an extended adolescence of parties and poor decisions, London-based Jonah (Jonah West) is beginning to feel unmoored. Secretly yearning for a reprieve from the city's frantic energy and his hard-partying lifestyle, he convinces his best friend Lee (Stanley Brock) to join him on a trip to the Scottish coast to visit his great-aunt, whose memory is fading. While staying in her small home tucked along the rugged shoreline, the pair meet Charlie (Connor Tompkins), a Deaf man grappling with the fallout from his twin brother's misdeeds. What begins as a chance encounter at the local pub slowly becomes something deeper, as the three young men form an initially tentative connection that opens the possibility for change. While cinema can often foreground the brutality of young men, Cairns turns her camera toward its emotional undercurrents -- the intimacy, fragility, and vulnerability that often go unspoken or unseen. Her characters are at a crossroads, stumbling into self-awareness and learning, however awkwardly, how to show up for each other even as the specter of waywardness looms. With rich cinematography and beautifully understated performances, The Son and the Sea avoids moralizing or melodrama. Instead, Cairns lets the story unfold with a quiet authenticity, finding wonder in unlikely places.

Critics Reviews

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Nikki Baughan Screen International Oct 15
Cairns does pepper the narrative with a couple of more typically dramatic moments, including a drugs subplot that goes nowhere and a rather melodramatic climax, but The Son And The Sea is strongest in its quieter spells. Go to Full Review Helen Hawkins The Arts Desk Oct 15
A quietly poignant debut. Go to Full Review Valerie Kalfrin AWFJ.org Sep 30
a delicate film about young men in crisis ... Jonah isn’t the first troubled character to find comfort in the countryside, nor the only one who benefits from getting offline to touch grass, but the way his journey unfolds feels organic and true. Go to Full Review Thomas Stoneham-Judge ForReel Movie News And Reviews Sep 22
4.5/5
Watching these characters navigate their dynamics with each other is why I am eager to return to this movie over and over again. Go to Full Review Alex Billington FirstShowing.net Sep 22
7/10
It's a flawed yet fascinating film, a solid feature debut from Cairns. She's got the right eye and does her best to capture this story through her lens. Go to Full Review Jared Mobarak Hey, Have You Seen ...? Sep 14
7/10
Credit Cairns and Imogen West for facilitating those authentic dynamics via a script that refuses to bend to clichés or concrete resolutions. The Son and the Sea is built as a journey rather than a means to an end. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Cast & Crew

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Stroma Cairns

Director

Jonah West

Actor

Stanley Brock

Actor

Connor Tompkins

Actor

Imogen West

Screenwriter

Stroma Cairns

Screenwriter
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The Son and the Sea

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Movie Info

Synopsis In her arresting feature debut, Stroma Cairns captures young masculinity with nuance, empathy, and startling insight. Living an extended adolescence of parties and poor decisions, London-based Jonah (Jonah West) is beginning to feel unmoored. Secretly yearning for a reprieve from the city's frantic energy and his hard-partying lifestyle, he convinces his best friend Lee (Stanley Brock) to join him on a trip to the Scottish coast to visit his great-aunt, whose memory is fading. While staying in her small home tucked along the rugged shoreline, the pair meet Charlie (Connor Tompkins), a Deaf man grappling with the fallout from his twin brother's misdeeds. What begins as a chance encounter at the local pub slowly becomes something deeper, as the three young men form an initially tentative connection that opens the possibility for change. While cinema can often foreground the brutality of young men, Cairns turns her camera toward its emotional undercurrents -- the intimacy, fragility, and vulnerability that often go unspoken or unseen. Her characters are at a crossroads, stumbling into self-awareness and learning, however awkwardly, how to show up for each other even as the specter of waywardness looms. With rich cinematography and beautifully understated performances, The Son and the Sea avoids moralizing or melodrama. Instead, Cairns lets the story unfold with a quiet authenticity, finding wonder in unlikely places.
Director
Stroma Cairns
Producer
Imogen West, Kelly Peck
Screenwriter
Imogen West, Stroma Cairns
Production Co
In the Company of, Studio Cloy
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Runtime
1h 42m