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...
In the 50s, Francis Bacon was a famous painter where the subject was the human body seen in anguish and ugliness. He liked a crowd at lunch and didn't mind picking up the check and him along with his friends used to frequent a club with a roomful of bohemians--some rich, some poor, some gay, some straight, all drunks. One night while he is sleeping, a burglar George breaks in through the skylight, who knows nothing about him or his paintings. Bacon awakens and makes him a deal: "Take your clothes off and come to bed. Then you can have whatever you want." George stays on as Bacon's lover. Bacon likes to get dominated by George in private but he is a sort of sadist in public. Their relationship grows but eventually part of both grows tired of the other one. Bacon begins belittling George in public for his lack of sophistication, locks him out while he entertains other rough trade and is scornfully dismissive about his suicide attempts. Increasingly more locked into drug- and alcohol-induced altered states, George finally does kill himself, as Francis is toasted at the exhibition in which his lover is the subject of some of his most celebrated paintings.
The film is supposed to be a gay classic with actors like Craig Daniel playing George. He brings a certain innocence yet trouble in the portrayal of the character. We do get a brief glimpse of his penis. Derek Jacobi (from Vicious) plays the painter, and does a damn good job. The problem is I was just never invested in the film itself. The direction of the film is done in a very different style with use of distorting lenses, abrupt, angular close-ups, reflective surfaces and split-screen devices to convey both the couple's dislocated world and the style of Bacon's painting is bold and inspired. Yet dramatically the film is less successful. Even the dialogues are not very normal. Somehow this was not my cup of tea. (3/10)
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