Review: Low Tide is not an entirely forgettable experience. The movie’s visual style, and performances from Keean Johnson and Shea Whigham, offer fleeting glimpses of promise. However, it ultimately fails to capitalize on that same potential, succumbing to a derivative plot and uninspired character decisions. A deep cut in the A24 catalog worth seeing for fans of the studio.
Kevin McMullin‘s Low Tide is a film caught between picturesque aesthetics and narrative inertia. Set against the sun-drenched backdrop of a Jersey Shore summer, the movie follows a group of teenagers entangled in a web of petty theft and mounting suspicion. While the film boasts a meticulous visual style and a few competent performances, it ultimately struggles to overcome a derivative plot and underdeveloped characters.
McMullin paints a convincing portrait of a languid summer, with the film’s pacing mirroring the slow, stretched-out days. The camera lingers on the sun-bleached houses and the endless expanse of the beach, creating a sense of both beauty and ennui. Yet, this deliberate pace occasionally veers into tedium, leaving you exhausted and waiting for a jolt of narrative energy.
The film sits squarely within the well-trodden territory of coming-of-age stories that explore the intersection of adolescence and crime. Comparisons to other A24 movies like Hot Summer Nights and Spring Breakers are inevitable, but at least those movies boast captivating performances from the likes of Timothée Chalamet, Maika Monroe and Selena Gomez, while Low Tide unfortunately falls short in crafting a truly unique story or propelling its characters beyond familiar archetypes.
Reviews for A24 Movies like Low Tide (2019)
Jaeden Martell (It, Knives Out) struggles to fully inhabit his role here. His character, Peter, becomes a sort of narrative MacGuffin rather than a fully-fledged individual, existing primarily to drive a wedge between the other characters. And while Keean Johnson delivers a solid performance as his conflicted older brother, Alan, he lacks the distinct character traits and dialogue to fully anchor the movie.
The highlight in the acting department comes from Shea Whigham. As the ever-watchful Sergeant Kent, Whigham brings a quiet intensity to his role, even if his character feels somewhat disconnected from the main narrative thread. His performance, while falling in line with 2023’s Eileen and Dead Reckoning Part One for playing characters just a tad behind when it comes to putting the movie’s central mystery together and always reluctantly playing catch-up, is not enough to salvage the film’s underdeveloped central pieces.
But Low Tide is not an entirely forgettable experience. The movie’s visual style, and performances from Keean Johnson and Shea Whigham, offer fleeting glimpses of promise. However, it ultimately fails to capitalize on that same potential, succumbing to a derivative plot and uninspired character decisions. In a crowded micro-genre of adolescent crime, Low Tide unfortunately washes ashore as more of a harmless curiosity than a truly memorable experience.
Watch Low Tide (2019) on Max and VOD here
Low Tide Film Cast and Credits
Cast
Jaeden Martell as Peter
Keean Johnson as Alan
Shea Whigham as Sergeant Kent
Alex Neustaedter as Red
Daniel Zolghadri as Smitty
Kristine Froseth as Mary
Crew
Director: Kevin McMullin
Writer: Kevin McMullin
Cinematography: Andrew Ellmaker
Editor: Ed Yonaitis
Composers: Brooke Blair, Will Blair
