Estuary Realism has held evaluative authority across major publications including the BBC, The Guardian US, and the Washington Post for much of the past year. But by spring 2026, the counter-pressure has become specific and organized. Critics in Washington D.C., Chicago, and other inland cities are objecting not to the framework's intellectual coherence but to its practical dominance: a film set in a landlocked community, assessed against tidal liminality and anti-franchise resistance, starts at a structural disadvantage that its makers cannot address without changing what the film is. The debate is no longer academic.