Clearly indebted to the memory of “Brokeback Mountain” and its cautious handling of gay male love amidst sheep and lonely landscape, Francis Lee’s debut feature “God’s Own Country” is set on a Yorkshire farm much like the one he himself grew up on, and the camerawork seems in thrall to nature here above all else.
Our young protagonist Johnny (Josh O’Connor, “Florence Foster Jenkins”) is first seen vomiting in the early morning hours, the camera staying on his back as he does so. Johnny’s father Martin (Ian Hart) has suffered a stroke, and so the bulk of the farm work has fallen to Johnny, whose only way of blowing off steam is heavy drinking at local pubs.
Lee’s camera lingers on the lush countryside as Johnny goes about his work, tenderly caring for a heifer and then going to an auction to sell it. We see him urinating and spitting, and Johnny spits again before having rough sex in a restroom with a young blond boy (Harry Lister Smith, “Pan”) who has caught his eye.
The editing and pacing in this first section of “God’s Own Country” is promisingly fast and intuitive, and the sex scene between Johnny and the blond boy has a very erotic furtive feeling. Lee manages to get across that the blond boy isn’t quite sure he wants to go so far with Johnny but gives himself up anyway because he is looking for a date. When they are done and outside, though, Johnny callously rebuffs him.
Johnny meets with a young Romanian boy who has come to help out on the farm named Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu), and right away there is a power struggle between them. Johnny calls this boy “gypsy,” but Gheorghe stares Johnny down and firmly says, “Please don’t call me that.” Gheorghe’s mother taught English in Romania, and Gheorghe is intelligent and proud. And he starts sneaking looks at Johnny.
The mid-section of “God’s Own Country” is an extended and often silent courtship between Johnny and Gheorghe as they work on the farm together. Portraying this sort of thing on screen is a real tightrope walk — if you put one foot wrong, you can fall down into either silliness or careless voyeurism. There comes a point when Gheorghe takes his pants down to wash himself, and the camera is set back at a distance as Johnny tries not to react to this, but there aren’t enough silent in-between shots of Gheorghe’s face to show us what he is thinking so that the tension between him and Johnny can build and feel real to us.
Finally, Johnny and Gheorghe come together and their clothes come mostly off as they roll around in the mud. This is where “God’s Own Country” runs into a real problem: If you’re filming a sex scene, the best way to do it is to put the camera as close as possible to the two people involved so that we can feel the flush of excitement between them. Lee’s camera stays at a distance from his leads and, far worse, comes in for close shots mainly for glimpses of their bodies.
On the one hand, the sight of their mud-spattered pale white skin is visually striking. On the other, it feels like the camera is gawking at them rather than joining them, and so all semblance of reality and of the necessary awkwardness of getting their clothes off vanishes. And so too does any real eroticism. When Johnny pulled the blond boy’s pants down in back in the restroom, it was from his point of view so that we could share his excitement. When he has sex with Gheorghe, that subjective component is crucially absent.
“God’s Own Country” finally becomes a film about saliva and sheep and the very pretty long eyelashes on both Johnny and Gheorghe. There are far too many close-ups of Johnny where he is looking dazed and open-mouthed, and his relationship to his father and grandmother (Gemma Jones) is barely sketched.
“My country is dead,” Gheorghe tells Johnny at one point, and that hints that he is just treading water because his options at this point are so limited. Instead of making us feel that these boys are meant to be together, “God’s Own Country” unintentionally suggests that Gheorghe should get himself to a city where his silky dark hair, bedroom eyes and developed aesthetic sense might be far better appreciated by others.
14 Hottest Sundance Movies for Sale: From Degenerate Nuns to Sexting Angelenos (Photos)
Park City, Utah, is about to be flush with cash -- and we're not talking about buying apres-ski gear. Here are the most promising sales titles of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.
"Brigsby Bear" Kyle Mooney ("SNL") leads an impressive ensemble in what seems to be a millennial take on "The Truman Show." The title refers to a children's TV show made for an audience of one -- a boy named James, whose life changes after the show's abrupt end. Dave McCary directs from a script by Mooney and Kevin Costello. Claire Danes, Mark Hamill, Greg Kinnear and Michaela Watkins co-star.
"The Big Sick" Socially relevant fare that's based on a true story is often a winning combination for Sundance features. "Silicon Valley" star Kumail Nanjiani and girlfriend Emily V. Gordon wrote this true tale of bridging cultural divides among their families while navigating their careers and romance.
"Beach Rats" Multiple programmers, sales agents and content buyers told TheWrap they're all keen to see this thoroughly modern drama from Eliza Hittman. The movie stars Harris Dickinson as a Brooklyn teen with a grim home life, a budding romance with a female friend and a predilection for meeting up with older men he connects with online.
"A Ghost Story" David Lowery reunites with his "Ain't Them Bodies Saints" stars Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck for a chamber drama about a man who dies, and is forced to watch his loved one grieve over expanses of time.
"The Hero" Sam Elliott stars as an aging country legend confronting his demons (territory that netted Jeff Bridges an Oscar in 2010 for “Crazy Heart”). The film also stars "Orange Is the New Black" star Laura Prepon, which may make it hard for Netflix to resist scooping it up.
"Roxanne, Roxanne" As he keeps chugging along the road to the Academy Awards, "Moonlight" star Mahershala Ali comes to Park City with "Roxanne, Roxanne" -- the story of Lolita "Roxanne Shanté" Gooden, who became a fierce rap battle queen at age 14. Chante Adams stars in this real-life story from writer-director Michael Larnell.
"The Yellow Birds" Alexander Moors ("Blue Caprice") offers up this tale of young Iraq war veterans, which boasts hot up-and-coming stars Alden Ehrenreich (the new Han Solo) and Tye Sheridan. The tale unfolds as a mystery, with a fallen hero's mother (Jennifer Aniston) and a tough-as-nails military official (Jason Patric) searching for answers in a young man's death.
"Step" One of numerous hot docs in Park City, Amanda Lipitz’s opus follows a team of step dancers in Baltimore — an inspiring group of inner-city girls living in the midst of social unrest.
"To the Bone" Marti Noxon, a longtime symbol of female empowerment in TV for her work on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "UnREAL," makes her feature directorial debut with a pitch-black comedy about her own struggle with anorexia. The film stars Lily Collins and Keanu Reeves.
"Landline" Director Gillian Robespierre reunites with her "Obvious Child" star Jenny Slate for a tale of lying, cheating and Manhattanite family bonds. Slate produces; Edie Falco, John Turturro, Finn Wittrock and Jay Duplass co-star.
"The Polka King" Jack Black descends on Utah with a meaty role as a Bernie Madoff for the indie music scene. In Maya Forbes’ indie Black plays Polish immigrant Jan Lewan — who became the “King of Pennsylvania Polka” in the 1990s, bribing and cheating investors along the way.
"The Little Hours" Director Jeff Baena continues to surprise, this time with a quiet riot of a film about extremely misbehaving nuns in an Italian hamlet. Reunited with his real-life girlfriend and star Aubrey Plaza ("Life After Beth") and producer Liz Destro, "Little Hours" sees a medieval convent go insane after a sexy day laborer (Dave Franco) moves in.
"Golden Exits" Director Alex Ross Perry and star Emily Browning help bring two infighting New York families together. A prototypical indie drama with pedigree, it co-stars Mary-Louise Parker, Lily Rabe, Jason Schwartzman, Chloe Sevigny, Adam Horowitz and Analeigh Tipton.
"Newness" Drake Doremus ("Like Crazy") returns to Sundance with another drama about young romance. This time, his "Equals" star Nicholas Hoult and newcomer Laia Costa play a contemporary L.A. couple navigating "a social media-driven hookup culture," whose relationship pushes multiple boundaries.
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Streaming companies and indie distributors will battle it out for these movies
Park City, Utah, is about to be flush with cash -- and we're not talking about buying apres-ski gear. Here are the most promising sales titles of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.