The film tells the incredible true story of a small time criminal in a British seaside town who was hunted by the police in connection with multiple murders and the kidnap of a neglected nine year old girl.
Naturalistic performances and a sense of place are the film's strongest suit, along with a brisk approach to storytelling that propels things along to a predictable but not unsatisfying conclusion.
That tension - between Margate's sink estate grit & flights of fancy, between naturalist crime story & sweet-natured morality fable... - is what gives Hard Tide its energy, but also, at times, makes it frustratingly uneven.
