Beach Rats
Beach Rats
An aimless teenager on the outer edges of Brooklyn struggles to escape his bleak home life and navigate questions of self-identity, as he balances his time between his delinquent friends, a potential new girlfriend, and older men he meets online.
Charles London reviewedMarch 17, 2025
"Beach Rats" may have been produced on a limited budget and for a limited audience, but there are no limits on one's capacity to appreciate Eliza Hittman's vision. Her story of an aimless young man living a double life strikes many chords. Harris Dickinson, in his first feature film, brings the perfect balance of sensitivity and machismo to a brooding NYC youth tring to find himself, and be himself, in an environment where self image matters more than self honesty.
Though this cinematic theme has been explored before, Hittman's turn through the streets, parks and beaches of southern Brooklyn, coupled with newcomer Dickinson's chiseled good looks and captivating performance, make this movie worthy of it's film-festival accolades.