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...
Russell, a wannabe drag queen, breaks up with his boyfriend of many years and moves to the rustic countryside to be with his grandma. She has been living alone by herself and is absolutely against the idea of old age home. Initially Russell's plan is to take borrow her car but something makes him stay. In the only gay bar of the area, he makes some friends and starts doing drag for some money. He slowly starts to fall for one of the bartenders and their relationship is a bit all over the place. When Russell's mother shows up, she is aghast by the idea of her son taking care of the mother but eventually realizes. It seems at some point Russell wanted to be an actor and everyone around him had been very supportive but the drag scene is not working for many. Russell himself is not very sure. His relations with his grandma improves daily who is more than happy to have someone by her side. The end is weird where Russell moves back to the city to pursue his dream of drag and the grandma is left to die alone in her ballet shoes, a tribute that Russell gives to her in his performance too.
Russell is trying to struggle to find his place in the world by revisiting his past, and almost trying to create a do-over. He plans to initially get some money from his grandma quickly turns to taking care of her and loving her. Also the budding romance feels like a fresh start but is not very clear what's the nature of it. It felt toxic in the brief scenes that I saw. There are a lot of drag sequences where Russell is lip synching to the songs. So for viewers who enjoy it, this could be a hoot but for me, it was literally a drag. Performance wise, I felt Russell was a bit rusty initially but eventually I started to warm up. The grandma was definitely the soul of the film. I actually also enjoyed the mother's character who was always supportive of her son. Film is very simple and straight forward at the core but fails to make an impression or give a message. The erroneous ending doesn't help the cause either. (5/10)
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