Set along the coast at Menai Straights, On The Sea is the very first gay Welsh film, I can remember seeing ever! It’s a serious, slightly bleak but surprisingly tender film, by writer/ director Helen Walsh who tells the story of middle aged Jack ( Barry Ward) who is a mussel fisherman feeling his age in a family business dominated by his boorish brother (Celyn Jones)
Jack is a kind man, who worries about his slightly wayward teenage son ( Henry Lawfell) he has been with his wife (Liz White) since they were 16 and has never left Wales, but it is clear that he is quietly attracted to the Scottish deckhand Dan ( Lorne MacFadyen) the single crewman of his friend fisherman Bernie ( Danny Webb) and they embark on a secret affair which is complicated by Jack’s health issues, and the tight knit Welsh community’s reaction to gossip.
There is little humour in this story and the cinematography by Sam Goldie is muted, and strangely devoid of colour save for one memorable scene where the two men are happy together on a sunlit trawler trip in the sea east of Anglesey .
Barry Ward is impressive in the lead role. And while Closeted and conflicted gay characters are not rare in cinema ,he makes Jack a complicated and sympathetic soul with his scenes with MacFadyen passionate and movingly tender.
Can't wait to see this. I hope it will be available in polish cinemas xx
ReplyDeleteMy friend , it’s a satisfying gay movie, a tad dated ( the family are church goers which doesn’t fit ) but it’s well acted and ultimately rather positive
DeleteExcellent, my friend. I like the idea of a storyline rooted in everyday reality, not another example of tokenism. I'm happy that you spent a rather lovely time xx
Delete