'Beach Rats': A Young Man On A Collision Course With Himself
In this closely observed drama about a Brooklyn teen whose sexuality conflicts with his sense of self, writer/director Eliza Hittman makes us feel the social pressures working on him.
The first words uttered by Frankie, the sexually confused teenager at the center of Eliza Hittman's Beach Rats, are a lie: "I don't really know what I like."
Frankie has logged on to a gay chat room from the computer in his parents' basement, where he sits in virtual darkness, furtively clicking through potential hook-ups. Frankie has worked up the courage to engage with a middle-aged man, who asks if he know what he likes — older gentleman, in part because they don't run in the same social circles — but his stated uncertainty is a lie he keeps telling himself, because the truth will have awful repercussions. In his working-class Brooklyn neighborhood, what he likes is not an option.
