High Tide

Lilli (Davis) is one of a trio of mophead backing singers for an Elvis lookalike. Bet (Adele) works in a fish factory, drives an ice-cream van in the summer, and sings at the local nightspot at weekends. Ally (Karvan), her granddaughter, wants to be as great a surfer as her late father. When Lilli gets the sack, she is stranded in the Australian backwater where Bet and Ally live in a caravan park. Ally is her abandoned daughter. Gillian Armstrong's terrific film centres on the after-shocks of this discovery. Without a trace of schlock or schmaltz, she depicts the viewpoints of these three women with great skill, aided in no small way by Laura Jones' admirable script. A distinctive sense of place, a generous sense of humour, and three remarkable performances comine to produce a movie with an undertow of astonishing emotional power.