Beach Rats
Description
A moody exploration of sexual identity, Eliza Hittman’s follow-up to her stunning 2013 feature debut It Felt Like Love sensuously balances two different but connected worlds in a young man’s life. Strikingly handsome Frankie (sensational newcomer Harris Dickinson) is a master at maintaining a macho facade, as he spends his time getting stoned, playing handball with his Coney Island bro friends, or hanging out with his forthright, street-smart girlfriend. But he harbors a secret life, exploring increasingly sexual play with guys he meets online. It is only in these moments, when he is cloistered away with his computer or hooking up with these men, that he feels something. But will Frankie ever be able to fully explore this facet about himself? In turn, would he ever be accepted by those around him if he did? Hittman’s incisive drama, which earned her a best director award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, doesn’t deliver easy answers. Instead, with a John Cassavetes-like sense for what is authentic, she reveals the raw, intimate details of Frankie’s reality perfectly. —Randy Myers
Biographies
Brooklyn-born Eliza Hittman is a powerful new voice in filmmaking. It Felt Like Love, her 2013 feature debut, collected raves for how unerringly it portrayed a complex young woman’s coming-of-age journey. Hittman has said she is “interested in taboos as a filmmaker,” and with both films, she addresses tough, uncomfortable topics.