Gothic Canadian drama The King Tide will wash over you with the power of a great novel

• The King Tide
• Directed by Christian Sparkes
• Written by Albert Shin, William Woods, Kevin Coughlin and Ryan Grassby
• Starring Frances Fisher, Aden Young and Alix West Lefler
• Classification PG; 100 minutes
• Opens in theatres Apr. 26

Critic’s Pick

I first saw The King Tide last September at the Toronto International Film Festival, and it’s haunted me ever since. The rugged Newfoundland landscapes (shot in and around the microscopic outport of Keels), the vibrant cinematography and hypnotic score, the gothic-tinged story – a baby with mysterious powers washes ashore a remote island fishing village – combine to create a film both timeless and out of time. It’s written and directed by contemporary Canadians – Albert Shin and Christian Sparkes, respectively – but could have been conceived, equally plausibly, by Charlotte Bronte, Daphne du Maurier or Stephen King.

Not long after the foundling, dubbed Isla, is adopted by mayor Bobby (Clayne Crawford) and his wife, Grace (Lara Jean Chorostecki), the film flashes forward a dozen years. Isla (Alix West Lefler) has grown up revered yet imprisoned. To keep the girl to themselves, the islanders – led by Grace’s mother (Frances Fisher, terrifying) – cut themselves off from the world. Because she can summon animals, Isla has single-handedly kept cod-fishing viable; because she can heal wounds and illnesses, a line of supplicants petition her daily, sapping her energy.

Newfoundland-born director Christian Sparkes had his biggest budget yet for The King Tide, and it shows

But like all pernicious schemes, it can’t last. The village is becoming insular and cultlike. The town doctor (Aden Young) is uneasy. The kids who grew up protected from harm have grown reckless. A tragedy and a surprise visitor from the mainland force Isla to take matters – and a fistful of bees – into her own hands. Sparkes really sticks the landing here: He makes it inevitable, sending you out of the theatre shaken yet also thrilled.

Gloriously, every actor and department head is making exactly the same movie, one that looks, feels and sounds simultaneously spare and lush, realistic and fablelike. It’s also achingly urgent, besieged as we are by cultlike groups who think shutting out the truth and doubling down on their own self-interest will protect them. It won’t. Just ask the bees.

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