''Beach Rats'' is a 2017 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

written and directed by

Eliza Hittman Eliza Hittman (born December 9, 1979) is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer from New York City. She has won multiple awards for her film '' Never Rarely Sometimes Always'', which include the New York Film Critics Circle Award ...

. It stars Harris Dickinson,

Madeline Weinstein Madeline Weinstein is an American actress best known for starring in the Netflix comedy-drama ''Alex Strangelove'' and the independent film ''Beach Rats''. Filmography Film Television Theatre Personal life Weinstein currently resides ...

, and

Kate Hodge Kate Hodge is an American actress and film producer. Life and career Hodge was born in Berkeley, California, Her first starring role was as Michelle, the heroine of the 1990 horror film '' Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III''. She ...

. It was screened at the U.S. Dramatic Competition section of the

2017 Sundance Film Festival The 2017 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 to January 29, 2017. The first lineup of competition films was announced November 30, 2016. Awards The following awards were presented: * Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – ''I Don't Feel at ...

, and was theatrically released on August 25, 2017, by Neon.

Synopsis

Frankie struggles to escape his Brooklyn home life. He balances his time with a new girlfriend, his friends, and chatting on the internet with older men with whom he meets up for sex and drugs. He does not, however, identify as gay to his girlfriend or male friends. He just " has sex with men", in the words of one of his internet partners. Frankie attempts to compartmentalize his life by having sex with older men, hoping to avoid anyone who might happen to know his friends. This becomes increasingly difficult, however, as he moves about the area and happens to run into them or lures them to meetings for drugs.

Cast

Production

In April 2016, it was announced Eliza Hittman would direct the film, based upon a screenplay she had written. Cinereach and Animal Kingdom produced the film, alongside Secret Engine.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on January 23. Shortly after, Neon acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released theatrically on August 25, 2017.

Reception

Critical reception

''Beach Rats'' received positive reviews from film critics. It holds an 85% approval rating on review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 106 reviews, with a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

of 7.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Empathetic and powerfully acted, ''Beach Rats'' takes a clear-eyed yet dreamlike look at a young man's adolescent turmoil." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film holds a rating of 78 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Jay Kuehner, reporting from the

for the Canadian film magazine ''Cinema Scope'', praised the 16 mm photography by

Hélène Louvart Helene Louvart (born 1964) is a French cinematographer. She graduated in 1985 from the prestigious École nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière in Paris. She is a member of French Society of Cinematographers (AFC), the French equivalent of Americ ...

, invoking a comparison to the visual aesthetic of '' Moonlight'' and '' Beau Travail'', as well as the films of

Robert Bresson Robert Bresson (; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director. Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson contributed notably to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, ellipses, and sparse use of scoring have l ...

and Philippe Grandrieux.

Accolades

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beach Rats 2017 films 2017 drama films 2010s coming-of-age drama films 2017 independent films 2017 LGBT-related films 2010s teen drama films 2010s English-language films American coming-of-age drama films American independent films American teen drama films American teen LGBT-related films Films directed by Eliza Hittman Films set in Brooklyn Gay-related films LGBT-related coming-of-age films LGBT-related drama films 2010s American films