Harris Dickinson in “Beach Rats.” Photo Courtesy Of Neon Studios.

“Beach Rats” Is A Fantastic Exploration Of White Male Performance In Sexuality

Kevin Dillon
Aug 28, 2017 · 2 min read

Beach Rats explores male performance in gender and sexuality in an unsettling way. Who among us is not performing to fit into some of aspect of this world? Eliza Hittman explored female performance in her first film It Felt Like Love and what society often tells white women how they should think.

Hittman’s second feature focuses on Frankie (Harrison Dickinson) as the wife beater and flat brim wearing silent type living in Brooklyn. These two films work perfectly as companion pieces because here Hittman lifts the veil on the way men like Frankie and his interchangeable looking friends protect themselves from their world outside the beach.

Throughout this story, Frankie leads many different lives. During the day, Frankie lives the life he believes he should be as the quiet smoldering bro. Frankie is often vaping with friends during the day, playing handball, or trying to woo a pretty young woman who appears to be everything a young man should want. As the night happens, it’s where Hittman’s script and Dickinson’s acting let go of the faux sunlight, and allow Frankie to explore the other side of himself on gay chat sites, showing off every line of his sinewy body for older men.

Frankie is a complex young man and while this could be seen by some as another film about a closeted young white male, Hittman’s script and Dickinson’s performance make this so much more. Frankie is so afraid to admit who he is and what he wants to be that he is trying to keep himself together, and Dickinson’s performance prevents him from understanding his own repression.

Shot by Hélène Louvart, the imagery of Beach Rats captures male sensuality and repression with a deft hand. Louvart is able to capture moments that expunge this pent up sexuality, in moments like when Frankie and his friends play handball together, or when they purge plumes of smoke at the vape bar. Each shot fills the air with a cloud sensuality, but never truly lets Frankie own his true self.

Beach Rats is one of the best films about this subject matter, because it shines a light on performance. Something few people know or realize they are doing in their everyday life. Hittman and Dickinson knock it out of the park (a true masculine reference) with their representation of the way in which society forces people to shut themselves out from knowing anyone, even themselves.

Grade: A-

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