It’s hard to remember that intimacy is often neck in neck with shutting down. When people open up with each other, we’re like fish, just as ready to flip above the surface of the water as we are to dive back down beneath it, into the deep where others can’t follow. Director Joshua Sanchez's “Four,” based on the 1998 Christopher Shinn play, understands that flickering anxiety. As we follow the night of a quartet of distinct individuals, Sanchez's screenplay and the hand-held cinematography of Gregg Conde capture the emotional suspense of testing our limits. Funny, erotic, and nervy, "Four" resonates by focusing on people, not ideas, and provides one of the least cynical looks at the despair of American freedom in recent memory.

"Four" was filmed in Long Island, but the story takes place in the seemingly desert-like every-town of Hartford, Connecticut. It’s the Fourth of July and somewhere we have the sense that there are lots of families eating hotdogs and patiently watching the sky together. That’s just not the kind of conventional company we’re keeping. When June (Emory Cohen), a skittish, closeted white boy leaves home for a vacant parking lot to meet Joe (Wendell Pierce), an older, black businessman, "Four" introduces its underlying interest in the unexpected. It’s a noir-like, almost humorous moment as the two walk towards each other, and June’s decision to get in Joe’s car sets the film in motion. Elsewhere, Abby (Aja Naomi King), a teenage girl, seizes a similar kind of freedom when she decides to stray away from home and go for a ride with Dexter (E.J. Bonilla), a charismatic boy of a poorer background. Despite all of her pretensions, Abby can’t resist Dexter just as in spite all of his insecurities, June buckles beneath Joe’s robust attention. Away from the fray of barbecues and American flags, the two pairs tantalize each other.

Sex is the most obvious thing in the air in "Four," but the film is smart enough to know that sex comes down to everything else, not the other way around. You sense something more tidal in June, Joe, Abby, and Dexter, which is frequently elicited by the film's remarkable performances. Pierce ("The Wire") will probably get the most attention for his part, and he’s impossible to elude here. But it would be a shame for his powerful presence to overshadow the considerable strength of his young co-stars, particularly King. Abby has a core of steel yet King manages to convey a softness in her without betraying that core. In fact, that’s the trick "Four" pulls off: it allows us to see its characters change, to reach out, without transforming them altogether. Their deepest needs spark like an SOS flair, with secret hope. That light might not last, but "Four" is built around the fact that clarity comes from contrast. It reminds you of why fireworks are most beautiful at night.