“[Beach Rats] is more of a tone-poem, a shifting collage of mood and atmosphere…” (RogerEbert.com)

“Hittman’s skill as an impressionistic filmmaker, giving us enough glimpses that we can fill in the whole, makes for an incredibly engaging viewing experience.” (Vulture)

“Beach Rats, a boldly irreconcilable drama, shows a character locating ugliness and horror within himself.” (New Yorker)

On the outskirts of Brooklyn, an aimless teenager named Frankie (played by newcomer Harris Dickinson in a stunning breakout performance) is having a miserable summer. With his father on his deathbed and his mother pressuring him to get a girlfriend, Frankie finds relief from his unrelentingly bleak home life by getting high, causing trouble with his delinquent friends, and exploring his burgeoning homosexuality by flirting with older men online. As his online chatting and webcaming intensifies, Frankie begins meeting men at a nearby cruising beach while simultaneously entering into a precarious relationship with a young woman (Madeline Weinstein in her feature debut). Eliza Hittman’s (It Felt Like Love) award-winning Sundance hit is a powerful character study that is as visually stunning as it is evocative.