Live Cargo's script was co-written by Sandler and Thymaya Payne, who produced and directed the award-winning documentary Stolen Seas.

As they try to heal and move forward with their relationship, the community on the island shows signs of unraveling—with the island's mayor, Roy (Robert Wisdom), squaring off against Doughboy (Leonard Earl Howze), a human trafficker who manipulates the impressionable homeless teenager Myron (Sam Dillon) into assisting with his smuggling operation.

Anchored by a quartet of equally strong and understated performances by Hemingway, Stanfield, Wisdom, and Dillon, 'Live Cargo' proves itself to be a singularly artful film of great emotional heft."

In describing the film’s atmosphere, she wrote, “The waves around the island roil ominously, reminding viewers of how deadly the water can be, especially when paired with thunderstorms from above.”[7] Steven Saito of The Moveable Fest wrote: “While there’s intrigue aplenty as anxieties rise higher than the tide, the assured hand of director Logan Sandler, who co-wrote the script with Thymaya Payne, guides 'Live Cargo' admirably as a thriller that may appear immediately as monochrome but shifts quickly into varying degrees of grey.

Embedding Hemingway and Stanfield, two leads you already have trouble taking your eyes off of, in an environment where it truly feels like anything can happen, whether it’s an impromptu street parade of dancers and bongo drummers known as Junkanoo or the constantly shifting alliances between those residing on the island, the film proves to be intoxicating, apt to swallow you up in cinematographer Daniella Nowitz’s glorious use of the widest framing possible.”[8] Sam Dillon's performance as Myron was named to IndieWire's list of 11 break out actors from this year's Tribeca Film Festival, with Kate Erbland writing: "Logan Sandler's stark black and white drama features some wrenching ideas – it features Keith Stanfield and Dree Hemingway as a couple mourning the death of their child – and an impressive cast, but Dillon's turn as an obsessive homeless youth colors the entire thing in unnerving (and special) ways.