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LOW TIDE
Director: Kevin McMullin Cast: Jaeden Martell, Keean Johnson, Alex Neustaedter, Daniel Zolghadri, Kristine Froseth, Shea Whigham, Mike Hodge MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:24 Release Date: 10/4/19 (limited) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | October 3, 2019 Writer/director Kevin McMullin has made a pretty formulaic crime drama, in which a group of criminals start to suspect and betray each other over stolen goods and deals with the cops. The gimmick of Low Tide is that the group of criminals is made of kids—teenage boys of various ages. The profit, apparently, isn't much. They mostly rob the summer houses of rich tourists for fun and to reassert their authority as the genuine locals of this little town. Those motives might be the primary way to identify these characters as kids, because everything else about them seems to have been pulled from assorted crime stories. The main characters are brothers Peter (Jaeden Martell) and Alan (Keean Johnson), who are unsupervised through the ensuing mess, because their father is away for work and their mother is dead. Peter is the innocent, who only gets into crime to fit in with his older brother and the brother's friends. Alan is the good-hearted thief, who robs houses because his life seems to have stalled. He even gets a romance with Mary (Kristine Froseth), a tourist who just sees a teenage boy trying his best to take care of his younger brother. The other two in the group are Smitty (Daniel Zolghardi), who turns snitch to Sergeant Kent (Shea Whigham) with little pressure, and Red (Alex Neustaedter), the violent wildcard of a leader. McMullin begins his story with some insight about the characters: members of a lower economic class who feel trapped in this place, while all the richer people come and go as they please. The four actors play what are essentially archetypes, but they're convincing at it. The story has the brothers discovering gold coins during one robbery. The thrust of the plot, which quickly ignores the characters' feelings of hopelessness and resentment for a few twists and turns, has the brothers trying to keep Red, Smitty, and Kent off the scent of the coins, hoping to sell them in a few months to start new lives. It's a bit jarring to see these young characters act out a fairly generic crime tale, in both good and bad ways. Low Tide gains some suspense because these characters are kids, and at least two of them are worthy of some sympathy. It also, though, feels like watching some teenagers playact a more adult, completely routine narrative. Copyright © 2019 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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(for
language, some violence and teen drug use)
