An artfully told coming-of-age tale as 17 year old Frankie (Harris Dickinson – Where the Crawdads Sing, The Darkest Minds) hangs out with his mates on the basketball courts, chats up girls – and searches the internet for hookups with older men.
Textural and poetic, Beach Rats is a gentle unfold of a narrative with writer/director Eliza Hittman (Never Rarely Sometimes Always, It Felt Like Love) creating a paean to adolescent innocence and its associated awkwardness. With a docudrama aesthetic, the tension for Frankie and his interaction with mom Donna (Kate Hodge – TV’s She-Wolf of London, One Life to Live) and new girlfriend, Madeline Weinstein (Queen of Glory, TV’s Mare of Easttown) is palpable in his personal sexual self-discovery.
Rating: 69%
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