This one's a beautiful, tender, quiet romantic drama with a moody atmosphere, set in a tight knit Welsh fishing community. It's a touching story about a man waking up sexually in the middle of his life, and how he, his family, and everyone around him deal with it, which makes it emotional and sentimental without ever getting over the top. The slow burn plays out against a landscape that's as bleak as it is gorgeous, where quiet, closed off men are stuck inside rigid ideas of what masculinity should be. Some people might be reminded of "God's Own Country," but I think both films are lovely in their own way. Jack is a middle aged guy who co-owns a mussel farm with his rough around the edges brother Dyfan, and the tension between the two of them is simmering under the surface right from the start. Dyfan's three sons all help out with the work, while Jack's sulky teenage son Tom keeps skipping out. Jack's been with his wife since they were both 16, and...
Jaime is a blandly beautiful young man who’s thrown into prison after killing another handsome friend of his. He’s put in a cell with just one bunk bed already occupied by four others. They include the clear alpha male and oldest of the group, Stud, who orders his then young lover to sleep on the floor so that Jaime, who receives the nickname “the prince,” can serve as Stud’s new bed buddy. The 2 other cellmates are also lovers. stud tells him that to survive he needs to toughen up and eventually raping him at night. Another older guy and his extremely young lover are part of neighborhood cell. Through flashbacks, we see Jaime’s development as a sexual being in the real world and to the young man’s friendship with the victim. It's never clearly shown how/when he already got attracted to men. So the prison and sex with Stud gave him a platform to experiment. Jaime slowly starts to come out of shell. The film though largely is about sexuality, it never fails to remind you of the kind of environment these men are staying in while trying to find love. There is a big fight between Stud and the older guy over the former's cat and eventually they both die. Jaime has to toughen up now and the film brilliantly ends up with a new cellmate coming in and Jaime treating him exactly the same way as he was treated by Stud.
The prison in this film feels like the fantasy prison of many gay men. At some point you wonder, if anyone straight in the prison since everyone seems to be sleeping around. Now, this could also be due to the only available resources but doesn't hurt to dream. Even though Stud rapes Jaime first night, but he cares very much for him and eventually Jaime realizes that and they sort of become a couple just like the other couple in their cell. Those two attractive guys really don’t do much else besides look at each other longingly, which almost becomes a kind of strange running gag. I feel there was some history between Stud and the other older guy and even some sexual tension; very similar to the sexual tension that their two young lovers shared. There are a few shots of full front nudity which gay audience will appreciate. My big problem is I didn't understand Jaime as a person at all. What's the story with his father, why kill his friend whom he clearly longs for and then the whole love affair and respect for Stan in prison. Did he have daddy issues or something else was going on? The finale at least makes it crystal-clear what Jaime’s position in the prison hierarchy is. But, again, there is zero sense of how the boy feels about it or whether he even wants that position.
As a film, it was interesting to watch something new, something different. And since this is a adaption of a homoerotic novel, you will have to keep aside the practicalities of a lot of thing and try to enjoy the film for what it is. (6/10)
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