Josh O’Connor, Alec Secareanu, Gemma Jones, Ian Hart
Hailed as the UK’s answer to Brokeback Mountain since its early appearances at Sundance and Berlinale, Francis Lee’s remarkable debut feature tells a story that is nevertheless anything but derivative.
Johnny Saxby, a taciturn young man, lives on a failing Yorkshire farm with his father and grandmother. Unhappy and frustrated with his life, he numbs his daily frustrations with binge drinking and casual sex. But when Gheorghe, a Romanian migrant worker, is brought in to help during lambing season, it ignites an intense relationship between them that sets Johnny on a new path.
It’s a perceptive and intelligent film from this first-time filmmaker with outstanding performances. The Yorkshire-born Lee eschews sentimentality for realism, acknowledging that while the British countryside is beautiful, it can also be wild, lonely and profoundly estranging.