With just two films, Eliza Hittman has established herself as one of the premier chroniclers of wayward youth. With the patient understanding of a teacher who reaches her students on a deeper level than most, she captures onscreen what most teenagers struggle to put into words.
So never mind the sophomore slump: Hittman has followed “It Felt Like Love” with an equally impressive second feature, one that feels like both a spiritual successor to her sensitive debut and a strange new beast all its own.
“Beach Rats” takes its title from a slang term for kids who aimlessly while away their days on the beaches where the sand of Brooklyn meets the water of the Atlantic, but Hittman doesn’t treat her characters — particularly her lead, the sexually confused Frankie (Harris Dickinson) — like rodents. This is another intuitive work from the writer-director, who creates three-dimensional portraits of adolescents who are themselves still in the process of becoming.
Here her focus is on a 19-year-old whose burgeoning (and closeted) sexuality would appear to be at odds with his hyper-hetero group of friends: Tatted up and frequently shirtless in the heat of summer, Frankie and his crew are the type to do pull-ups on the subway and haunt the boardwalkby night in search of girls. (With their buzz cuts and cargo shorts, they recall the soldiers of Claire Denis’s “Beau Travail” as they walk along the beach.) He’s very much at home among his cohort, and tells one of the older men he meets online for sex that he doesn’t identify as gay despite these clandestine trysts.
Whether the paradox doesn’t occur to him or he’s simply unable to acknowledge it is hard to say. At one point Frankie asks the girl he’s seeing (Madeline Weinstein — like Dickinson, she gives a strong performance belying her status as a relative newcomer) whether she’s ever kissed a girl; when she says she has, he asks what she’d think of seeing two men swap spit. “Two girls can make out and it’s hot,” she tells him, “but when two guys make out it’s gay.” What to do with an answer like that? Frankie gives no outward response — to do so would be to tip his hand — but we can sense him retreat further into himself.
This is familiar territory for Hittman, who was also at Sundance four years ago with her debut feature, but “Beach Rats” is by no means a retread of her earlier film. The writer-director is much more assured and confident behind the camera than her protagonists are, as they snap selfies and flail about in hopes of coming to a greater understanding about themselves.
That’s in part because Hittman deftly combines the behaviors of today with a neighborhood that almost feels unstuck in time. This corner of Brooklyn is a place where kids still hang out in front of stores and run into each other on the boardwalk rather than arranging every meetup via a group text; when Frankie needs to talk to Simone (Weinstein), he actually goes to see her in person at work.
This geographic intimacy is captured vividly by cinematographer Hélène Louvart, who also shot “The Wonders” and documentaries “Pina” and “The Beaches of Agnès,”(among others; whether capturing a boardwalk fireworks show or the thick clouds of a vape bar, “Beach Rats” has an experiential, almost docudrama aesthetic whose lived-in authenticity is in keeping with that of the film as a whole.
Parents might not understand, but at least filmmakers like Hittman do. She’s highly attuned to the pain that accompanies the mere act of reaching out for some kind of connection, whether physical or digital, fleeting or long-lasting, even when — like Frankie’s — those efforts are most often for naught.
Sundance Scene: Charlize Theron, Matt Damon, Kate Upton and More (Updating Photos)
Charlize Theron, Mary McCormack, and Chelsea Handler
Pink hats and post-march clothes dominated the sidewalk style scene on Saturday after a sea of activism filled Park City for the Women's March.
Here, the trio ducked in to the Hub at Park City Live, a sprawling hospitality lounge.
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Aisha Tyler
Tyler brightened Saturday's favorite uniform (the pink hat) with a jacket that echoed a famous refrain from UFC fighter Ronda Rousey: "Fight like a girl."
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Handler would end the day as many do: at TAO.
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Common
In town a few days ahead of his movie premiere, the rapper was a surprise performer at the second night of the popular pop up nightclub.
Vegas nightlife photography sorcerer Al Powers captured this pic, with event partner Don Julio's 1942 Magnum as the trophy that sat atop VIP tables.
Not pictured: Jeremy Renner, Aisha Tyler and Mary J. Blige, all on the scene.
Al Powers/Powers Imagery
John Legend
Common's co-Oscar winner from two years ago for "Glory" made the rounds, stopping by this after-party and an event for his own WGN show "Underground" earlier in the night.
Al Powers/Powers Imagery
Matt Damon, Marcus Samuelsson and Gary White
A seated lunch at Sundance? Yes.
On the busy opening Saturday afternoon, the trio sat at a "head table" while chalices of Stella Artois were raised by the crowd. The event promoted the film-friendly brew's commitment to Damon and White's Water.org clean water philanthropy.
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Jeremy Renner
From one Jason Bourne to another...
Renner was one of the many faces to pass through AT&T's Village at the Lift on Saturday (Jan. 21).
The space has become an industry sanctuary this weekend. With minimal red carpet and flashbulb bombast, the photo-free Nobu restaurant and the Jeffrey Best-created "Cabin" restaurant/bar has had the same socially sticky bass line of Soho House.
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Jack Huston and Tye Sheridan
Though it loosk like an introduction, these two star in "The Yellow Birds," a drama about soldiers in the Iraq War.
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Dave Bautista
The former professional fighter's dystopian "Bushwick" opened up the first night of Kia Supper Suite at Firewood on Main, The Party Report's festival partner.
With a line stretching down the street, the Kias pulled up to bring cast and filmmakers in to the space formerly known as Cisero's.
Jason Schwartzman and prolific producer Lauren Selig were both spotted having private dinners earlier there on Saturday.
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"Bushwick": Bautista and Brittany Snow
Inside the packed opening night event away from the slushy streets outside, Bautista and Brittany Snow warmed up in the VIP booths downstairs.
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The Breakout Actors of Sundance 2017
Meanwhile, photographer Jeff Vespa curated the breakout performances of Sundance for his annual "Verge" list, a print book photo portfolio.
At Saturday night's party at DirecTV's space: Margaret Qualley, Keith Stanfield, Harris Dickinson, Josh O'Connor, Haley Lu Richardson, Michelle Morgan and Danielle Macdonald.
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Vespa addresses the crowd at the traditionally an industry-heavy affair that proved as popular as ever in a new space that doubles as a cafe during the day.
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Michelle Morgan and Jeff Vespa
There is heat for "the next big things." Before it was over, the fire marshal had to "shut down the door" as a safety issue -- meaning, nobody could get access regardless of status.
Honored for "L.A. Times," Morgan was safely inside before the cutoff.
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The "Verge" scene.
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Tiësto
Meanwhile, up at Park City Live, Tiesto played an "open format" set for film "Before I Fall" and Gen-Z media powerhouse AwesomnessTV's party during Snow Fest.
Straying far from the four-four house thump, Tiesto pulled from all areas of pop music, weaving together Drake's "One Dance," MØ's "Final Song," Bieber's "Let Me Love You," Yeezus era Kanye, Twenty One Pilots' hit "Ride" and hip hop breakout 21 Savage alongside The Killers and his own hit "Red Lights." It was a musical #PotLuck.
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Justin Verlander and Kate Upton
At Tiesto's next door neighbor, Rock & Reilly's, we learned how it pays to be Kate Upton.
At a Golf Digest event with Conde Nast on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 21), the supermodel revealed her first golf lesson came from the late great Arnold Palmer.
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Keanu Reeves, Mimi Kim and Brian Malarkey
Buffalo ranch octopus, steak and the one-time "Matrix" man were on the menu at the second night of ChefDance. We know Chef Malarkey from Herringbone at the Mondrian in L.A. and Searsucker in Vegas.
Jordan Kartchner
Christina Robinson
The former "Dexter" star passed through Debbie Durkin's EcoLuxe Lounge -- the sole survivor of the formerly thriving gifting suite industry.
In addition to providing "hangover, altitude and anti-aging IVs," the organizers focused on promoting their charity partner Shriners for Children Medical Center.
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Roxanne Shanté
The hip hop pioneer of the early 1980's (center), who fueled one of the first "rap wars," has a biopic debuting on Sunday, "Roxanne Roxanne," lifting the chorus of an early hit.
The team behind Sundance 2015 sensation "Dope," Pharrell Williams and Forest Whitaker produced the feature.
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Kate Micucci
Kate broke off from the roving ensemble of "The Little Hours" to hit The Hub at Park City Live on Saturday afternoon, a sprawling hospitality lounge with a climate change activation and a pop-up studio from Marie Claire magazine.
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Barry Rothbart
Rothbart stars with "Fargo" Season 1 breakout Allison Tolman in the series "Downward Dog," which premiered its first four episodes at Sundance.
But first... the Hub at Park City live for a photo set up by the nonprofit Cool Effect, a climate change advocacy group.
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Artist Bennett Slater and Morgan Spurlock
It's not all motion picture arts and sciences here in Park City. There's also visual arts. Documentarian Spurlock led an artists' panel at the Kimball Arts Center on Saturday afternoon.
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Fares Fares and 4K
Only weeks after throwing CES, the Consumer Technology Association set up an array of 4k TV's in a suite on Main Street to make a case to the content community: "Consumers want 4k. Make it."
In addition to VR -- which is everywhere at the festival -- the second biggest consumer technology distribution topic is 4K. "Directors love it," one of the CTA reps told The Party Report, while hinting that some actors were nervous about being able to see every pore on a face.
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Sundance 2017: Inside and backstage the best industry bashes at the Sundance Film Festival with The Party Report’s Mikey Glazer, presented by the Kia Niro.
Charlize Theron, Mary McCormack, and Chelsea Handler
Pink hats and post-march clothes dominated the sidewalk style scene on Saturday after a sea of activism filled Park City for the Women's March.
Here, the trio ducked in to the Hub at Park City Live, a sprawling hospitality lounge.