Rip Tide(2017):A Film Review
Rip Tide(2017), directed by Rhiannon Bannenberg, produced and written by Steve Jaggi and Georgia Harrison respectively, and later in 2018 being sold to Netflix for International release, features Debby Ryan in the role of Cora Hamilton, an upcoming teen model who’s the face of the new generation bloomers. Splashed on the pages of magazines and running photo-shoots don’t quite seem to be that much interesting to her as it is to her fashionista mother who’s busy handling modelling business than paying attention to her daughter’s call of need even to the extent of not agreeing to attend the once in lifetime opportunity of her high-school graduation ceremony. Disappointed and heartbroken over her mother’s heartlessness and frigidity, Cora in the spur of the moment and immersed in her own little world goes onto making adjustments to her style and dress, which was totally unintentional. But her little act had hammered quite the blow on the position of the designer whose taunt coupled with her own emotional meltdown makes her miserable as she falters down the steps, in the process becoming the headline of the media websites.
In the midst of her terrible moping over the past hour of humiliation and defeat Cora’s attention is caught by a birthday card sent by her aunt Margot(Genevieve Hegeny) from Australia asking her to visit her whenever she felt like. She takes this opportunity to clear her head and sort out her life in front of her as things lie huddled up in a mess, at present. In the airport Cora is stopped by her mother Sofia(Danielle Carter) who tells her to focus on her modelling career ahead instead of what she was doing. For the first time in her life does Cora break away from those emotional shackles of responsibility her mother had forced her to wear since childhood, finally leaping out like a free animal in the wild. And mind you Australia is really a lot more wild and free than the tinted and suffocating walls of New York! Back in Australia the film focuses on the struggles of Margot who had recently lost her husband Caleb(Jeremy Lindsay Taylor) to the same sport she loved so dearly and tenderly that she’d more or less given upon it even though she’s an excellent surfer. Both aunt and niece, torn between their past, present and future make decisions that finally let them take leave of their inhibitions catapulting them into a life of joy,hope and mirth.
The film although short and simple doesn’t fail to deliver the message it had proposed upon doing since the beginning, that being chasing the dreams and goals one has no matter what. No matter how difficult the circumstances are you should always chase away those mindless and unreal fears of yours and run after the waves of dream that lie ahead of you. Margot finally reconciles with an old friend of hers(Owen) as she does with her sport while Cora along with discovering her love for designing dresses instead of modelling for them comes across another discovery as well, that being love and friendship. She finds love in the form of a tall, broad surfer boy Tom(Andrew Creer) who despite not having much screen time and character development helps Cora realize who she is, what she wants and finally the fact that she can fulfill those dreams of hers even by staying close to her joyful ride of a place, the sea. She finds excellent friends in her aunt Margot, Chicka(Naomi Sequeira),a surfer girl and Margot’s mother-in-law Bee(Valerie Bader), who teach her to enjoy life to its fullest and not be a trapped bird in the cage. Towards the end of the film Cora also gets to make amends with her mother as she finally realizes her fault and everything becomes settled as Cora is accepted in college, apart from gaining the attention of a New York based fashion photographer for having designed for the annual beach festival. To her surprise the guy turns out to be the same Patrick she’d brushed off as useless when Chicka had tried to talk to her about that, proving to us how people from humble backgrounds from far off places could have such high up connections as well. So you better not underestimate anyone, you got that?Good.
Among everything that exists in the film it is the vibrancy of the blue sea that summons the hurt souls towards its shore slowly and gradually healing them in the process as it happens to the lead of the movie.
Originally published at http://ninjainskirts.wordpress.com on August 24, 2020.
