‘High Tide’ Review: A Lukewarm Queer Immigrant Drama With a Blazing Lead Performance
Siddhant Adlakha A scattered but intimate drama about a queer immigrant left adrift, Marco Calvani’s “High Tide” boasts an impeccable leading performance that buoys the movie even at its weakest.
Strung together by gentle moments, it follows Brazilian émigré Lourenço (Marco Pigossi) as he anticipates the return of his American lover in Provincetown — Massachusetts’ gay promised land — while running out the clock on his visa.
As kindness and cruelty tear Lourenço asunder, Pigossi delivers a stunning performance that practically heat-welds together the film’s disparate parts, making it feel whole despite the flaws in its construction.
From the moment “High Tide” opens, Calvani demands his audience’s attention through the contrast of gentle waves caressing the shore and the stark image of Lourenço stripping off his clothes and lunging towards the ocean in a moment of emotional crisis.
