‘High Tide’: Shirtless and Seeking Love
A gay Brazilian stuck in P-town seeks a visa, and finds a fling in the sweetly melancholy romance "High Tide."
There are worse places in the world to be stranded than a cozy New England beach town, even if the summer season’s over and autumn’s chill is just around the corner. But despite the painted sunsets, and having the sandy shores of picturesque Provincetown, Massachusetts practically all to himself, lonely Brazilian visitor Lourenço (Marco Pigossi), the hero of queer indie High Tide, feels trapped in this sunny paradise.
First of all, he’s heartbroken, since Joe, the lover who brought him to P-town, abruptly left and ghosted him. Lourenço still has a place to stay, in a converted shed in the backyard of homeowner Scott (Bill Irwin), an old friend of Joe’s. But he has no money, and no prospects for gainful employment because he’s in the country on a tourist visa that soon expires.
While angling to find an employer who will sponsor him for a legit job, Lorenco works off-the-books cleaning vacation rentals, and sulks in his solitude under the watchful eye of Scott, who, clearly, would like to offer more than just his shed.
It helps to be an unassuming hunk in his situation, especially in gay mecca P-town, but Lourenço still bears a quiet, desolate desperation that permeates the movie. Marco Calvani, marking a solid feature debut, transmits the melancholy mood through glimpses of the resort’s dwindling summer season: the near-empty bars and deserted beaches.
Under the doleful strings of composer Sebastian Plano, Lourenço trudges around the dunes alone, when he’s not biking to housekeeping gigs, or drifting into unsatisfying hookups. Montages capture the sleepy, low-season vibe around town, as Pigossi’s performance captures Lourenço’s low ebb in pride and confidence. The actor evinces a spark, despite the character being persistently self-pitying.
Luckily, Lourenço maintains just enough pep in his step to attract the amorous attention of another late-season visitor — though one with definite plans for his future — Maurice (James Bland), a handsome nurse from Queens, New York. Through their softly simmering affair, Lourenço might be able to rekindle his inner fire, and rediscover some sense of direction.
The progress of their courtship, if not the exact outcome, is predictable, as is the course of Lourenço’s sad single-guy breakdown. From the first time he’s offered party drugs in a club, it’s only a typical queer-indie amount of time before he’s wasted on GHB, regretting all his choices. Can’t a guy ever just have a fun night out in one of these movies?
The film’s cautionary treatment of clubbing and casual sex aligns with Lourenço’s burden of Catholic guilt, which is also channeled via his calls home to Mom (voiced by Gláucia Rodrigues). She likes to remind him that he’s not too old yet to get married and have kids, but he’s “not getting any younger.”
Lourenço is still closeted to his mother, plus he’s led her to believe that he’s studying at Harvard, rather than lost in P-town. Writer-director Calvani — who also is a gay man from Brazil, raised in what he calls a conservative family — astutely exploits the many disconnects between foreign and familiar, and personal and political, to inject much of the film’s subtle humor.
Pigossi doesn’t range far beyond wounded puppy in his portrayal, though, so any chuckles are generated by the eclectic supporting cast, including Tangerine star Mya Taylor, as Maurice’s saucy friend Crystal, and Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei, as successful artist Miriam, whose home Lourenço helps paint.
Irwin adds compelling tension as widower Scott, lonely like Lourenço, and pining for the younger man with unmistakable desire. Frequently shirtless, or even more undressed, scene after scene, Lourenço understands what it is to be desired, but what he wants is to feel valued, embraced, and loved. Unfortunately, he’ll need to sort out his immigration status first, because deportation doesn’t wait for romance.
High Tide (★★★☆☆) is available to stream or purchase via digital on Amazon Prime, YouTube, and Fandango at Home, and available soon for purchase on DVD and Blu-Ray from Strand Releasing. Visit www.strandreleasing.com.
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