Low Tide
Low Tide is a promising start to McMullin’s career as a director, even though it plays out as a standard crime drama with a coming of age twist.
Low Tideis an challenging small-arm of literary genre storytelling , if one that ’s clearly the work of a first - time filmmaker still finding their voice . Kevin McMullin ( making his feature unveiling as a writer and director ) has crafted a tiresome - burn thriller that ’s big on atmosphere and plays out a bit like the young adult version ofThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre(complete with the economical anxieties that fire its protagonists ) . In the end , though , it ’s a fairly formal and bare - bones morality tale about the cost of covetousness and being smart about who your Friend are . Then again , by specify his sights on a lower , but more manageable target , McMullin avoids overextending himself in his first - meter at bat , and manages to land a substantial grounder . Low Tideis a promising start to McMullin ’s career as a film director , even though it play out as a stock crime drama with a sexual climax of long time twist .
The movie follows four teenaged boys - Alan ( Keean Johnson ) , Smitty ( Daniel Zolghadri ) , Red ( Alex Neustadter ) , and Alan ’s young crony Peter ( Jaeden Martell ) - who live in a beach town on the New Jersey shoring . With their blue-blooded - collar parents out of the picture ( either off working or no longer around ) , Alan , Red , and Smitty spend their summertime night plunder vacation homes in orderliness to fund their twenty-four hours trips to a local burger pedestal or company at the nearby boardwalk in the even . However , when Peter joins the three to offend into an set-apart log cabin whose purportedly - affluent owner recently passed , he and Alan stumble upon a purse of gold coin in the floorboards . With the police already breathing down their neck , Alan and Peter seek to keep their newfound treasure a unavowed - something easier say than done , particularly give Red ’s tendency for being untrusting and otherwise explosive .
In its strongest moments , Low Tidecaptures the spirit of aimlessness that comes with being a teenager in the summer and having neither school nor a real problem to give your animation more structure . Much of the film ’s first half focuses on doing just that , even in the scenes where Alan and his pals are burst and recruit or true cat - call girls on the boardwalk . This is whereLow Tidehints at a greater profoundness to its protagonists and the factors that feed into their destructive behavior , whether it ’s economic insecurity , toxic maleness , or ( particularly in Alan ’s case ) uncertainty about the future as they find themselves on the cusp of adulthood , trying to figure out who they ’re going to be . regrettably , the movie fail to fully pay off these threads during its second half , which shift into being more of a square monitory thriller about the destructiveness of avarice and deception .
For the most part , though , Low Tide ’s young cast of characters come through in making their characters experience like substantial masses , even if the movie shinny to flesh them out beyond recognizable original . Alan and Peter are ultimately the film ’s true leads and are aptly bring to life history by Johnson and Martell , with Martell in especial communicating the same sense of emotional deepness that he lend to his premature function in the comedy - dramaSt . Vincentand , most famously , theITfilms . Zolghadri is equally diverting as the ill-chosen Smitty , and Neustadter interpenetrate Red with a sense of threat and instability , despiteLow Tide ’s failure to even start out to explore where his violent inclination come from . The four are nicely complimented by the ever - reliable Shea Whigham as Sergeant Kent , the local cop who test ( in vain ) to put the four male child on a better route . But , sadly , Kristine Froseth ( Sierra Burgess Is a Loser ) get piddling to do as Alan ’s star - crossed honey interest , Mary .
More than anything , Low Tideworks as a mood musical composition that reverberate the flavor of its workings - class New Jersey backdrop . Andrew Ellmaker ’s cinematography is fittingly arrant and makes the movie ’s point setting ( it ’s not stipulate , butLow Tideappears to take piazza during the last fourth part of the 20th century ) seem like an uninviting and life-threatening place , even in the midst of summer . That noir - ish sensibility is also present in the foreboding grievance by Brooke and Will Blair ( Green Room , Hold the Dark ) , which helps the moving picture to sustain this feeling of unease , even during its quieter or more heartfelt moments . As was mentioned , McMullin shows some real potential difference as a director , and it ’s leisurely to imagine that , with a substantial story in hand , he could set down a proper strike next time .
All in all , Low Tidemakes for a hefty genre physical exertion and a mostly uncompromising directorial introduction for McMullin - no more , but no less . Perhaps unsurprisingly , A24 is passing on giving the movie an honour time of year button and will unfreeze it in dramaturgy as indie counter scheduling to the big studio apartment tentpoles and Oscar contenders arriving this calendar month ( following its premiere on DirectTV Cinema in September ) . Those who ’re intrigued by the trailer and premise would do well to give it a face at some point all the same , if not necessarily on the bighearted filmdom . As for its director : much likeLow Tide ’s lead , it will be interesting to see what he does from here , now that his own " origination story " is out of the means .
TRAILER
Low Tideis now playing in choice U.S. theater of operations . It is 86 minutes farsighted and is order roentgen for speech , some fury , and teen drug use .
Shea Whigham in Low Tide
Shea Whigham in Low Tide
