Despite
what Robert Louis Stevenson and Edgar Allen Poe told us, William Kidd is the only
documented example of a pirate burying his treasure. Nevertheless, the pirate
treasure map motif took hold in our collective imagination. Over three hundred
years later, there are scores of History Channel shows dedicated to the
recovery of sunken or buried pirate plunder. Two scuffling brothers will resort
to Captain Kidd’s tactics when they chance across a cache of gold coins during
an ill-fated burglary in Kevin McMullin’s Low
Tide, which opens tomorrow in New York.
Peter
and Alan are what the entitled Jersey Shore summer cottagers might call
townies. Their mother has passed away and their father is mostly absent on long
commercial fishing hauls. Alan, the elder brother, has fallen in with a bad
crowd: namely the mercurial red and the weasel-like Smitty. The three often
break into summer homes, but unfortunately Smitty broke his ankle during their
last misadventure. That is why Alan brings along his straight-arrow brother to
serve as lookout on their latest job.
In
a rare burst of intuition, Alan finds a bag of rare gold coins under the floor
boards. Soon thereafter, he gets pinched and the sociopathic Red abandons Peter
to his own resources. Of course, Smitty squealed when Sergeant Kent started
sweating him (the cast was a dead giveaway). However, Peter was able to
secretly bury the loot before safely slipping back to the mainland. Yes, there
is a map. They also have two suspicious criminal associates on their hands.
The
idea of a contemporary version of a pirate treasure caper sounds fun and larky,
but Low Tide isn’t much of the first
and decidedly not the latter. Instead, McMullin opts for a social realism
approach, emphasizing the brothers’ marginalized social and economic status.
All the major characters are entirely charmless and quite resentful of their
lots in life. With the exception of Peter, they are mostly rather slow-witted,
which really makes it a chore to spend time with them.
However,
like all good noirs, Low Tide definitely
gets a boost from some colorful supporting players. Shea Whigham is
surprisingly human and relatable as Sgt. Kent, the Jersey Javert. Plus, Mike
Hodge adds sly attitude (which is much needed) as Don, the brothers’ pawn
broker of choice. Villains are also important in this genre, so it is a good
thing Alex Neustaedter is so menacing as Red. Yet, the brothers themselves are
pretty plain vanilla.
Low Tide is the sort of
film that sounds enormously promising, but turns out to be just okay. Frankly,
the slow-burning is a little too slow to recommend at Manhattan movie ticket
prices when Low Tide opens tomorrow
(10/4) in New York, at the Quad Cinema.
