Grammy-nominated music video director Andy Hines makes his feature debut with Little Lorraine, a crime drama that blends coastal fishing with drug smuggling. The film is adapted from “Lighthouse in Little Lorraine,” a 2022 single by singer-songwriter Adam Baldwin, whose music video was later directed by Hines. The singer-songwriter is a different person than the actor who previously starred in both Firefly and Chuck.

After a deadly coal mine accident shutters his livelihood in the small Nova Scotia town of Little Lorraine, Jimmy (Stephen Amell) faces the harsh reality of supporting his family without steady work. Hope arrives in the form of his uncle Huey (Stephen McHattie), a charismatic but secretive businessman who offers Jimmy and his crew a chance to work on his lobster boat. At first, the promise of reliable pay seems like salvation. But Huey’s ventures—and the odd air he carries as a supposed fisherman—hint at darker dealings. What begins as a fresh start soon pulls the men into something far more sinister, where the line between honest work and organized crime blurs into dangerous waters.

Struggling to provide, Jimmy and his friends Tommy (Joshua Close) and Jake (Steve Lund) accept Huey’s offer, only to be caught in a criminal enterprise far beyond their depth. As drugs, deception, and violence creep closer to home, Jimmy realizes the true cost of his uncle’s schemes. The deeper they sink, the harder it becomes to escape, and soon their families’ safety is on the line. With betrayal closing in on all sides, Jimmy must summon every ounce of grit and resolve to find a way out before Huey’s empire consumes them completely.

I went into Little Lorraine not knowing anything about the events that inspired the film. Having watched Arrow, I was piqued by Stephen Amell’s casting. The ensemble also added some curiosity on my end: Matt Walsh—who makes the most of limited screen time—appears alongside Sean Astin and Auden Thornton. While its prospects with American audiences remain uncertain, the film has secured Canadian distribution through Photon Films.

Little Lorraine opens with a coal mining explosion in 1986, yet the drug-smuggling operation at its core didn’t end until 1991. The film doesn’t make clear how much time passes over its two-hour runtime. Jimmy, Tommy, and Jake’s decision to pursue “coastal fishing” feels understandable once the mine’s closure becomes permanent, but the too-good-to-be-true offer inevitably spirals into something darker. That shift is cemented by the arrival of Interpol Agent Lozano (J Balvin). Balvin, making his acting debut, delivers a performance that feels far more seasoned than expected.

The town is largely Roman Catholic, with Father Williams (Sean Astin) presiding over the parish. Once a friendly figure to Jimmy, Tommy, and Jake in their youth, he chose the path of the church while they went underground into mining. His presence takes on added tension once Interpol arrives: are confessions truly staying sealed, or has Father Williams betrayed his flock?

The struggles facing Little Lorraine aren’t unique—small towns across North America have lived through similar instability. Here, the looming presence of government land reclamation to expand the reach of Louisbourg Fort as a tourist attraction is not really touched on in the film. The larger truth remains: when the primary employer in a small town shuts down, stability shatters, and people are forced into desperate measures. In coal country especially, the decline of demand has left countless communities with few options for survival.

Little Lorraine isn’t just a story about crime or smuggling—it’s about the fragility of small-town life and the lengths people will go to survive when their world collapses. Through Jimmy and his friends, the film captures both the lure of quick opportunity and the consequences of desperation, while also showing how community, faith, and personal loyalty are tested under pressure.

DIRECTOR: Andy Hines
SCREENWRITERS: Andy Hines & Adam Baldwin
CAST: Stephen Amell, Stephen McHattie, Matt Walsh, Rhys Darby, Auden Thornton, Joshua Close, Steve Lund, Hugh Thompson, Kaelen Ohm, with J Balvin and Sean Astin

Little Lorraine holds its world premiere during the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival in the Discovery program. Grade: 3.5/5

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