High Tide

I saw this at the IFC Center during its opening week in NYC, and I was charmed by it. The intercut scenes did a great job of establishing the setting, and the relationships between the characters were nicely layered. The sex scenes were artfully done and evocative. The story of a Brazilian immigrant in P-town is not high drama, but it is human, and on that level, it did a great job of throwing the spotlight on gay culture and the theme of wanting to escape one's life, through dancing, swimming, drugs, or relief work in Angola. The casting was interesting, the performances very realistic, the cinematography beautiful, and the montages worked well. My husband missed much of the show because he lost his ticket and had to get up to use the bathroom, and he felt the plot was predictable. I however could not have predicted what happened at the end, I don't think he could have either.