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...
Lakshmi is a school principal and a single mother to Varun who is in his first year of college. The two live in a coastal town on an island in their happy space with Varun's cousin living with them after his mother's death. Soon Varun starts to feel he is getting attracted to male masculinity and I this quest to find answers he does a few sessions with a psychiatrist who eventually then introduces him to his gay son Kartik who is also an activist. Slowly the two boys start coming closer. Varun is envious of how supportive Kartik's family is. But all hell breaks lose when he is outed to Lakshmi. She doesn't take the news well and throws her son out of home declaring that he is as good as dead. Varun's friends try to reason with her and so do Kartik's parents but she will have none of it. Varun finds love with Karthik, but he will never be as happy as he once was. Lakshmi can't bear the loss of her son and sets out to find him.
The film has the heart in the right place but there are places where it gets little preachy. Which, I can understand is needed because the audience needs to be educated. For example the scene where the psychiatrist explains LGBTQ, what it means and how people need to be educated that this not a disease and another scene where Kartik explains Varun who just like in the straight world, gays also have good and bad and all kinds of people. Sadly, everyone always thinks of sex when people come out and that needs to change. The love story between Varun and Kartik comes out of nowhere but nonetheless is pleasant to watch. With everything that Varun is going through, an anchor like Kartik is exactly what he needed. The ending of the film is a bot open ended, where its not very clear whether the mother is eventually going to come around or not, but she is just ok seeing her son with Kartik in peace. The film is a genuine and heartfelt effort but sadly could use a lot of fitness to make it a better product overall. Even though the film doesn't have any extra sub stories that can take away from the main plot but at almost 110 minutes of runtime, it still feels bit too long. This being an Indian film, I will always have a soft corner, but the industry needs to make something path breaking. The regular run of the mill queer stories are not doing any good or making any difference. But I still respect and thank the effort. (5/10)
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