High Tide
“High Tide” is Marco Calvani’s debut feature film which he also directed, set in the beaches and streets of Provincetown, and tells the earnest and heartwarming story of a gay undocumented Brazilian named Lourenço (portrayed by Marco Pigossi) who only has a few more days to spend in town before he has to go away, not knowing whether he’ll ever return. Calvani tells a story rooted in the dynamics of a very narrow community: the rich male and female Residents of Provincetown, and their young gay renters during the summer months. Its portrayal in storytelling is sensual such that it fits into the gay eroticism genre that includes films such as ‘Beau travail’ directed by Claire Denis and ‘Moonlight’ directed by Barry Jenkins. The film succeeds to an extent in evoking loneliness in viewers as it taps into an audience’s feeling of loss following a fundamental change in one’s life, experiencing everything a new place has to offer and looking at the clock and realizing its time to leave. One is left with the unsettling thought, something wonderful may have happened, but you cannot pin point it out exactly nor know what you will do with this information.
The film opens predictably, but only for a brief moment since, in the next scene, things leap ahead twenty years: Lourenço visits the beach, disrobes, swims a few hundred meters out into the sea, and lies on his back. It almost reads like a symbolic image that encapsulates the film however never expresses it and expects the viewers to interpret this is a man, who has no solid ground and no potential as every picture he creates, evokes the sensation of buoyancy. The leads Lourenço meets in Provincetown seem to be in a similar condition they are detached, at least for some time, from the normal routine of life. The cast consists of Mya Taylor who played a character named Crystal, the drugs-indulged matriarch of the team, and Maurice herself (James Bland), a stunning tall black lad who stands out in the masculine and has lanky built which however does not fit properly into a majority white neighborhood creating a strange sense of connection towards Lourenco who is always lonely. They are compelled towards one another and get entangled for a little while, it’s a strong sense of physical attraction which could lead to sex but both men’s insecurities hold them back. The sex scenes are hot yet stylish, and tastefully brief, and almost elliptical in their execution, shot poetically with close ups of strong hands on bare flesh, the touch perfectly complementing the images.
Oscar Ignacio Jiménez captures breathtaking coastal scenes in the film “High Tide,” which features great locations without getting too dependent on them. The movie takes on ‘a very profound, quiet atmosphere’ particularly when it’s focused on Maurice and Lourenço. Their love story is believable and moving, albeit the requisite break-up of the couple in the third act seems rather obligatory (and dull did it, inibably you can see Maurice receiving the pain and swallowing it, receding into his own world), and much of what Maurice says sounds out of his cultural context and comes off rather ungraceful (although his delightful ‘Of course when you are about to leave, you finally have a reason to stay’ is definitely a billboard line).
The film does not lack in knockout supporting performances and it wisely does not overexpose you to the supporting characters so that whenever Lourenço is off the screen, you fill them in your own way. Bill Irwin shines as Steve, the protagonist’s landlord who settled in provincetown on the peak of AIDS crisis with hopes of healing or dying. Steve lost his partner and now he rents out his guest house to summer visitors who work odd jobs to make ends meet (like Lourenço, who works as a cleaner and handyman during the off seasons). As Bob, Seán Mahon is imbued with anger and aggression as one of Lourenço’s hot-headed employers. Bob is rather irritated because his ex-wife Miriam (Marisa Tomei), a cool painter, left him for a woman. Miriam instinctively gets Lourenço as she is a woman who turned her life upside down for a feeling and Lourenzo is not there yet.
“It’s only natural that someone is going to get their heart broken while you walk the path of love,” she says to him as an excuse, then continues, “But it’s always worth it.” (This week, Tomei has stood out in two releases; another is the ‘Brothers’, a slapstick animated feature in which she plays a lady who has a faraway obsession with a thief locked behind bars. She’s effective in both parts as well. She needs another lead and someone should get around to writing it for her.)
Pigossi is an absolutely mesmerizing person who knows how to perform in front of a camera that is, capturing the audience with the emotions his character is feeling without the extra push in the performance, as he knows that the story will be conveyed through him.
At times, he is smart enough to go with the flow and step aside to give other, more effortlessly flamboyant characters in a scene the center stage (many of whom one can believe don’t actually have nearly as much puckish delight as they fancy and are trying awfully too much to be “characters”; this isn’t a criticism of the brilliant actors but rather a compliment of the excellent writing). During those moments, the camera always tends to return to Lourenço with his stunning but tortured features as he attempts to resolve several mixed and most often turbulent emotions while all the while, recuperating from them in the sight of his audience.
In the earlier shot, there was a slow zoom which drew our attention to Lourenco. He was sitting at the dinner table with Steve and a guest, Todd, who was played by Bryan Batt from the series ‘Mad Men’. He was a little too friendly lawyer who was invited with hopes that he would be able to resolve the immigration issues of the protagonist and allow him to remain in America. This whole country means what is on the surface, but also makes a hundred other things at once: plot, scenebuilding, and even more gentle mockery for older men inquiring what all the letters say in Provincetown’s ‘work in progress’ IT Museum of “LGBTQIAP+” for Todd especially, the Q is whatever he dislikes most. However, both of the above create a small but distinct concern that so much power should be given to someone in deciding the fate of Lourenco, an insightful and critical view of a specific, sociologically ‘exact’ type who would never see such categorization in themselves. Everything is tied together with Pigossi’s face. She makes the scene ‘journalistic’, in the way that an authentic tiredness of Portraying scenes of the life of a man can be added to the montage.
“High Tide” may be a little too diffuse for its own good, and there are occasions when it feels rather more like a collection of stories than a coherent and confirming structure, a strong narrative: a picaresque that does not so much move as it stays somewhere. But this slight discontent can be attributed to the first features, which are mostly the showcase of a director’s voice, style and themes. They succeed on an unstated, courageous vow that the voice is capable to be extended into other movies. This is certainly the case in this instance.
For More Movies Visit Putlocker.