Beach Rats

The film was as aimless as the lives of the spivs whose lives it followed. Their characters and lives didn't develop and nor did the film. It's quite appropriate, in fact.

As a story of urban youth, some of them second generation Russian immigrants with all the disadvantages that this might imply, the narrative was compelling. They have no rhyme or reason in their lives, no goals apart from getting laid or high.

In this group, Frankie walks a tightrope. He's less amoral than his peers, secretly a gay bottom, a bit weak and easily led. He runs with the crowd and as an attractive lad has an easy time pulling girls to act as a cover for his real desires.

There are some hints that one of his mates might be subject to the same proclivities - there is one shot of him seemingly ogling guys in shorts on the beach and he refuses to participate in the meeting at the beach at the end. But it would be too much of a risk for either to hook up or express any sort of affinity with each other. What if either had got it wrong?

We don't see an out for any of the group. The film ends as it begins with the fireworks at Coney Island. Nothing has been resolved, there are no solutions. The guys will have different futures if only because of their sexualities and personalities but it's not going to happen any time soon. It's left to us to imagine what will occur.

A picture of a sadness life of a boy that has gay tendencies while is surrounded by a toxic masculinity context. It just made realize how many guys must had experienced horrible relations with other mans because they don't accept themselves. The movie don't pretend to have a happy ending and it was a good way to represent the internal conflict of self acceptance that for a lot of mens ends never happening. May be a good example of what not to do for some boys out there.

First off, by tough to watch, I mean that in a good way. The almost painful, questioning and awkward teenage years of a man learning, or trying to learn his sexuality and family fit with turmoil going on all around him could not be captured better. His "not (his) friends" don't seem to make anything easier for him, and his love interest isn't much better.

The one big difference in this film which in my opinion doesn't make it bad, just makes it unique to what is to be expected from many coming of age/life films around is that a majority of the movie is portrayed not by dialog, but by character demeanor, and actions. It is not a feel good movie, and it is not a re-assuring style film. It is as it tries to be a movie showing the hardship of being a teenage male, unsure about his sexuality or life in fractured times.

I would highly recommend this film if that sounds like your cup of tea, but if you like the more light hearted, or 'scripted' style of teenage life this may not be for you.

**Fair warning this film does have a fair bit of nudity, and drug use among others**

Harris Dickinson gives an amazing performance as the sexually confused aimless teenager who also faces family tragedy and drug problems. The whole film works well telling the story from his perspective. But the film lacks the ambition to expand the themes touched by it. It should've been daring in exposing the problems faced by the protagonist and the results of his actions. While what's been shown catches the state of mind of the protagonist perfectly, it feels like the film ends without telling everything it could and should have.

I went to IMDb to see what other people had said about this film, and the very first review I saw had the title of "Boring."

"Beach Rats" is quiet and thoughtful, and it demands a certain amount of patience, but it breaks my heart that someone would dismiss it as boring. It follows a lost youth navigating the no man's land between teenager and adult as he tries to figure out how to be the person he wants to be -- whoever that is -- in an environment that tells him who he should be. He hangs out with a bunch of losers who speak in a kind of dumb bro language and couldn't string together an articulate thought between the three of them while wandering aimlessly around Coney Island and its environs looking to score easy drugs. Meanwhile, he carries on a secret life of gay encounters with older men while at the same time trying to force himself to enjoy a relationship with a young woman who's too mature for him.

Is he gay? Probably. Does he specifically seek out older men as father figures because his own dad just recently died of lingering cancer? Maybe. But the point is that he doesn't have the tools required to process any of the things he's feeling because he lives in a stunted place surrounded by stunted people, and it's easier to escape into feeling good the bad way than to put work into feeling better the hard way.

More than anything "Beach Rats" is about how hard it is for men to explore their own feelings in a culture that has rigidly defined what it means to be masculine.

Grade: A