Beautiful Thing

Yet another apologetic film about the assumption of homosexuality.

I've had other occasions to say that I'm not a fan of apologetic and contestatory films. I am not against their existence, there is room for them and cinema is a legitimate form for the expression and defense of political, social or moral agendas, theories and ideas. It's simply not a type of cinema that I really like to consume, not least because it's a niche cinema, that is, that tends to please those who already defend those ideas, in addition to trying to convince us to accept them. This film does precisely that with homosexuality. There are more and more films that talk about the subject, some do it with skill and even a healthy neutrality, which leaves us room t...

"Jamie" (Glen Berry) lives with his single-parent mum "Sandra" (Linda Henry) on a London housing estate. He's a slight lad who is prone to bullying at school which leads him to skive off now and again to go home and watch musicals on the telly. Next door is his schoolmate "Ste" (Scott Neal) who has a pretty torrid time of his own with a father and brother who thinking nothing of knocking him about. The lads start to bond and are soon firm friends whose relationship could be starting to burgeon into something more... This film has a distinct charm about it. Sure, maybe it's a wee bit stereotypical at times, but there are strong efforts from Neal, Berry, especially Henry and from Ben Daniels as her love interest "Tony" - who appears to be lit...