‘Many thanks to Isla...’
In these troubled times, the thought of leaving society behind to go and live on a remote island is becoming more and more appealing despite the fact that whenever this type of lifestyle is depicted on screen it always seems to go wrong. The King Tide presents us with both sides of island living with a dollop of magical realism thrown in for good measure…
When a child washes up on the shore of a small island fishing village, the locals soon establish that she has healing powers. Fast forward ten years and the girl, Isla (Alix West Lefler), grants ‘visitations’ to the other islanders in order to cure them of their various ailments. Beau (Aden Young), the town doctor, gets drunk every night as he has nobody left to heal and then visits Isla in the mornings to take his hangover away. When a tragedy leads to an abrupt change in the island dynamic, Isla’s ‘parents’, Bobby (Clayne Crawford) and Grace (Lara Jean Chorostecki), struggle to maintain harmony.
Canadian director Christian Sparkes is at the helm for this quiet, meditative film, and he succeeds in building an ominous sense of dread that never relents. There is no release of tension here, and while this slow build may be a little too slow for some, I found a strange comfort in the various scenes of men with beards and pale women speaking in hushed tones in dark rooms. The community feels lived in and authentic, and when things turn bad in the third act, Sparkes explores the pitfalls of zealotry and piousness.
Anchored by strong performances across the board, The King Tide is a strange and singular film that plods along nicely without every really exploding into life. It’s also bleak and ruthless in its portrayal of the evil that men do when backed into a corner. Impressive stuff.
