Beach rats

Hey guys!! so,I’ve watched "Beach rats" a few months back and it stuck with me, so I thought I would write a review because THIS movie is really worth being acknowledged.

Trailer:

So, Beach rats is a Drama by Eliza Hittman (tbh I’ve never seen her other work, but I am positive I will in the future) and it revolves around this guy called Frankie (Harris Dickinson), 19 years old, living in Coney Island. What I would say about the plot is that, it’s a documentation of a part of Frankie’s summer. And by that, I mean, the movie just follows him going through his summer (going to the beach with his friends, hanging out at a Vape bar, playing handball, etc.).

Consequently, the plot isn’t the main thing, really. The beauty of the film, resides in the cinematography (sigh! Hélène Louvart, you did a STUNNING work..I can't even STRESS enough). The film has a grainy quality mixed with Coney Island lights, which sets a very atmospheric tone to the film. But, it also transforms the experience into a sensorial one: the light from the screen or the fireworks or the moon, that breaks the overwhelming darkness; the sound of fireworks that flood your senses. However, my favorite detail is the focus on the human bodies filmed in fragments (hands brushing another), which depicts eroticism and beauty.

What you need to understand is that, Frankie is a troubled young man. His dad is dying, his mom (Kate Hodge) is constantly worried, he is bored out of his mind in the city and he has nowhere to go. So, he takes solace in drugs, a meaningless hookup with a girl he tries to convince himself to like while having a secret rendezvous with much older guys he meets at a webcam sex-chat. All these pent-up feelings: of boredom and longing, denial about his identity, and fearing his homophobic friends finding out; translates wholly in his facial expressions. Everything is said in the silence.

My rating: 5/5, because the film is raw, emotive and sensual and I'm enamoured.

The theme of this recommendation list is longing (for a relationship, a realease, a home, etc.) : Call me by your name (5/5), Lovesong (4/5), Newness (3/5), A ghost story (5/5), Ain't them bodies saints (4.5/5), Atonement (5/5).