Much was impressive about Morgan J. Freeman’s first film, Hurricane Streets. A kind of Hamlet set on the streets of New York, the film eschewed gangs and gangsta film cliché for warm, human emotions, intelligent dialogue and a fluid, strong camera style. What was especially impressive, though, was Freeman’s ability to elicit riveting and absolutely credible performances from his young actors, especially Brendan Sexton III, the menacing boyfriend from Welcome to the Dollhouse.

Freeman’s second film, also featuring Sexton in a pivotal role, could not be set farther away from his debut. A small town, with 89 people living in it on a good day, is quarantined when a truck carrying a “secret ingredient” for a cola drink crashes on the highway and its driver dies of unknown causes. A teenage TV star named Skye, passing through on a road trip with her father, is trapped in town until the crisis ends, with nothing to do but hang out with the local kids.

They are a mixed bunch, with different dreams and anxieties. A collective uneasiness hangs over them, even before the crisis: the town is dying, distinguished only by a novelty giant ice cream cone and an incomplete water park – Baxter Beach – and they know it. Everybody loves and pities Blue (Sexton). His dad was building the water park until his death in a motel fire, which everyone thinks was set by the explosives-obsessed Ely (the enormously gifted Christina Ricci), although she claims not. Skye is intrigued by Blue and gradually drops her pretentious and condescending airs, drawing closer to the troubled boy. Meanwhile, her divorced father tries to comfort Blue’s mother, still confused about her husband’s death.

Freeman’s ability to interweave these complex characters and stories together impressively suggests the sure hand of a veteran. Yet, again, it is his astonishing ability to draw out nuanced and revelatory performances from his wonderful ensemble of actors – also including Casey Affleck, Sara Gilbert and Kate Hudson – that sets Freeman apart from his American independent colleagues.

Noah Cowan