There are rocks just below the surface of the Adriatic where teenager Julija (Gracija Filipović) and her parents live, above a cove on the Croatian coast. At low tide these rocks are a jutting underbite, ready to chew chunks out of passing yachts. Julija’s overbearing father, Ante (Leon Lučev), knows this, but defiantly pilots his boat through anyway. Then he pushes his daughter overboard for questioning his decision.
It’s a telling moment in Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s sinewy family drama, in which threats to domestic equilibrium – Ante’s simmering anger, his wife Nela’s (Danica Curcic) secrets – lurk just out of view. Tensions are already high between Julija and her father: they dive to spear fish together in harmony, but are at loggerheads when they reach the land. The discord is amplified by the arrival of Javi (Cliff Curtis), a wealthy friend of the family. The atmosphere, of sun and celebration, rings as hollow as the Europop that Ante blasts to drown out arguments; sonar-stabs of cello on the score sound a warning.
