Beach Rats
Beach Rats is a 2017 American drama film directed by Eliza Hittman. It stars Harris Dickinson, Madeline Weinstein, and Kate Hodge. It was screened at the U.S. Dramatic Competition section of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, and was theatrically released on August 25, 2017, by Neon. Plot. Frankie (Harris Dickinson) struggles to escape his Brooklyn home life. He balances his time with a new girlfriend (Madeline Weinstein), 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. 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 2017 Sundance Film Festival 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, based on 106 reviews, with a weighted average 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, the film holds a rating of 78 out of 100, based on 29  critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Jay Kuehner, reporting from the 2017 Sundance Film Festival for the Canadian film magazine "Cinema Scope", praised the 16 mm photography by Hélène Louvart, invoking a comparison to the visual aesthetic of "Moonlight" and "Beau Travail", as well as the films of Robert Bresson and Philippe Grandrieux.