Coastlines (2006)

Synopsis: Returning earlier than expected, Sonny finds that not much has changed since he left...except now the Vances owe him $200,000 for the time he spent in jail and, perhaps not surprisingly, they don't seem anxious to pay up any time soon. Sonny's best friends from childhood, Deputy Sheriff... Returning earlier than expected, Sonny finds that not much has changed since he left...except now the Vances owe him $200,000 for the time he spent in jail and, perhaps not surprisingly, they don't seem anxious to pay up any time soon. Sonny's best friends from childhood, Deputy Sheriff Dave Lockhart and his Nurse Practitioner wife, Ann, still live the kind of quiet, rural life that defines community: their safely sheltered commitment to each other unchallenged and supported by their deep belief in contributing to the welfare of others. It is exactly the kind of life Sonny now looks at with longing: years of state-imposed prohibition giving rise to a newly felt envy. Other than that, life on the Gulf Coast continues as it has for decades. Shrimpers still take to the dark waters at night to lure their catch; oystermen tend the shallow beds that stretch on for miles; the pelicans, cranes and dolphins play languidly at the water's surface. The smell of development dollars also permeates the air, however, and the associated ambitions of Sonny's former partners-in-crime threaten to overwhelm the local world. The Vances' attempt to get Sonny out of the way only spurs him on. Although it's Dave's job to watch out for Sonny (as much as it is Ann's to heal him), isolation, desire and regret threaten to overtake all three as Sonny's drive toward both self-destruction and retribution careens explosively out of control. -- © IFC Films [More]