by John Noonan
Worth: $15.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Marco Pigossi, James Bland, Bill Irwin, Sean Mahon, Marisa Tomei, Mya Taylor, Bryan Batt
Intro:
… a beautiful piece of work which, like Moonlight, can resonate to the core.
In his home country of Brazil, Lourenço (Marco Pigossi) was a trained accountant, and then life took a turn. He lied to his mother about being accepted into Harvard and moved to America to start again. When we meet him in High Tide, life has taken a turn, with Lourenco’s holiday visa running out and him having nowhere to turn. There is mention of a boyfriend who appears to have disappeared off the face of the earth; when our lead tries to call him, he’s met with voicemail.
So, Lourenço works hand to mouth in Provincetown, living in a pokey granny flat behind the property of mother hen, Scott (Bill Irwin). Most of Lourenço’s income comes from Bob (Sean Mahon), a disgruntled column of five o’clock shadow whose wife, Miriam (Marisa Tomei), left him for another woman. Despite everything, Lourenço tries to maintain a positive attitude in front of everyone while hiding his melancholy at home and when swimming.
It’s while swimming that Lourenco comes into contact with Maurice (James Bland), an Adonis of a man vacationing with his friends, including Tangerine’s Mya Taylor as Crystal. The two immediately hit it off, and what could have easily ended up as a one night stand starts blossoming into something more, at least potentially.
Directed by Marco Calvani, High Tide is a sumptuous and personal film that gets so much out of its characters without ever having them verbalise their emotions out loud. When something is laid out, it’s largely a way to underline Lourenco’s nativity. Take, for example, when Lourenço extols the virtues of living in Provincetown. Maurice gently shows that, like many queer-friendly places, it still suffers from a lack of representation, noting that this is still the arena of the white and rich. This bleeds effortlessly into a later scene where Scott finds Laurenco’s flat and is immediately on the back foot. Scott, clutching his garden shears post-prune, looks almost ashamed in his prejudice. In contrast, Maurice looks like he’s reliving the trauma of a thousand tiny cuts.
These moments don’t necessarily build up Lourenco’s world. Still, they flesh out the supporting people in his life, making them feel like they are the leads in their own stories. The result is a lived-in world with verisimilitude. This is emboldened by the performance from all, particularly Pigossi, whose rabbit trapped in the headlights persona stirs up many an emotion. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to go from ‘Oh, bless his cotton socks’ to ‘My god, man! Your ex is not coming back! Look at Maurice, look at him!’
At times, Calvani’s choice of show don’t tell does come out of the dark like a crowbar. The bloody end to a visual metaphor about seals is particularly on the nose with regard to the narrative. Meanwhile, Scott’s lawyer buddy, Todd (Bryan Batt), called in to help Lourenço with his Visa troubles, feels like a stereotypical predatory gay man who wouldn’t look out of place in an early Todd Phillips movie. Tonally, he’s all over the place and almost eclipses a film built on subtlety.
However, thankfully, these moments are few. If you are able and willing to put them to one side, you’ll be left with a beautiful piece of work which, like Moonlight, can resonate to the core.
