My Review of Beach Rats (2017)

 

Written And Directed by Eliza Hittman

Michael: "In gay men, the pointer finger is almost always longer than the ring finger. In straight men, the ring finger is almost always longer than the pointer finger."

I picked another LGBT themed movie with a certain actor and this one was released a year before the one I reviewed yesterday. Also, a bit different and a bit similar too.

Taking place in current day Brooklyn, New York, we had aimless young man named Frankie (Harris Dickinson). Frankie's got some dodgy friends, a hectic family life with a dying father and a girlfriend named Simone (Madeleine Weinstein).  A girlfriend who would later call him a fixer upper before dumping him.

Of course the main plot of the movie was Frankie interacting with men on camera. He claimed he was using men in order to score weed but at the same time, he also admitted to one of his male lovers that he didn't want to label his sexuality either.

Throughout the movie, there's a double life with Feankie and one that he seemed to initially had a handle in keeping separate. He picked older men as they were less likely to know his immature friends. Then he blurred the lines himself.

Introducing his friends to his camming antic seemed pretty reckless and his attempts to downplay his actions were unconvincing. It felt like his friends were aware he was gay and only badly reacted to one of Frankie's guys, Jeremy (Harrison Sheehan) when the latter wouldn't hand over any weed. 

Saying that, Frankie's friends were horrible. Frankie's exasperated mother, Donna (Kate Hodge) saw through them and by the end of this movie, Frankie was more isolated than he was at the start. No friends, no girlfriend and seemingly no more online hookups for weed. 

- Director Eliza Hittman cited her inspirations from friends conversations about Grindr hookups that resulted in attacks as well as a Facebook selfie from a guy in a group called Beach Rats.

- Both Simone and Michael (Erik Potempa) made some fair points about Frankie's sexuality that he didn't want to deal with. 

- Standout music: Vika's Letters, Dume-A-Duzin's That Chicken and Nick Leone's Beach Rats Theme.

- Chronology: Present Day Brooklyn, New York. Feankie was located in Coney Island.

I'm not sure how I feel about Beach Rats. It's a very well made movie, nicely shot and a great lead performance from Harris Dickinson.  It's also a straight woman's commentary on male gay relationships and the dangers of hookup culture amid drug taking. Its watchable though frustrating in parts.

Rating: 7 out of 10