A rideshare driver gets a lesson about life from his customers in this really good look at the people affected by politics, racism, and more by filmmaker Adam Assad.

Josh Chang has lost his job and doesn’t know where to go from there. He feels his life has begun to go nowhere. His therapist recommends he takes a “gig economy” job to at least earn some money. When a job delivering food doesn’t go as planned, he gets a job as a rideshare driver. Today happens to be Election Day and Josh is getting an influx of passengers on this day.

His passengers on this day include Bruce, a retired engineer; Greg, a self-proclaimed entrepreneur; Marques, an engineer; Veronica, a young woman who constantly is seen as eye candy; Laura, a genderfluid marketing exec; and Daniel, an unhinged construction worker. The group talks about their struggles with life today and ow the upcoming election could affect them. Everything culminates at Greg’s house, where he holds a house party to watch the elections.

This is a very interesting and yet realistic portrayal of life through the eyes of the various characters portrayed in the film. Adam Assad wrote and directed this great film that feels real and is about real life as each character depicted has their own issues and yet they all come together on common ground with this film about the effects of the economy at a time when there could be a change in the Presidency.

The main character is definitely Josh, played excellently by Pascal Shin. We see him sitting on the beach in the opening of the film. We see him as the driving force, literally, as he engages in conversations with the influx of passengers in his car. That, interspersed with flashbacks of his sessions with his therapist played by Eric Roberts, shows how much he has been affected by the economy and political climates.

The passengers are quite an eccentric group and there is tension from the very beginning. There are those who support Trump and believe he has made America great again, while others disagree and explain how much he has hurt the country. There are also shades of racism, sexism, and in the case of one character, LGBTQ sentiment. However, with the arrival of Neal Kumar’s happy-go-lucky entrepreneur Greg, things become a little more grounded and he goes as far as invite everyone to his house to watch the elections and perhaps, gain some perspective on their conversations.

The third act is set during the house party and things get extremely real as some shocking truths are revealed amongst the characters. And it may seem a bit dark, but it is a realistic look at what can happen when you think it will go one way, but it doesn’t go as planned. The life lesson of having a “plan B” must always come into effect because you never know what can happen.

The Sea Was Never Blue is a realistic look at the lives of people affected in today’s society for a myriad of reasons. The ensemble cast here is wonderful and once again, Eric Roberts shines in his flashbacks scenes with Pascal Shin. A definite must see for cinephiles.

WFG RATING: A

A Marble Rye Productions/Ætherial Films production in association with Escape West Films. Director: Adam Assad. Producers: Adam Assad and Wes Young. Writer: Adam Assad. Cinematography: Anup Kulkarni. Editing: Michael Gavlak.

Cast: Pascal Shin, Eric Roberts, Alejandra Cejudo, Todd Larsen, Erwin R. Jones, Neal Kumar, Wes Young, Laurie Douglas.