Reviewing Movies

What does a Born-Again Christian do when his body starts telling him he’s gay? This is the moral and intellectual dilemma faced by Brady when he and his puritanical Mother move to the small coastal town of the title. The long-suffering Clifford puts up with Brady’s conflicted attentions because in a small red-necked town he doesn’t have a lot of other alternatives for compatible companionship. It isn’t until Clifford finally gives up and decides to leave town to live with his Father on another continent that Brady finally faces up to the choices before him and finds help from an unexpected source in the person of his pastor. His mother, although not going to the length of casting him out of her home nevertheless is unwilling to attempt to accept the reality that her son may have no choice in coming to terms his homosexual orientation.

The film-makers try to keep the Bible-Thumping to a minimum though dinners in front of a large reproduction of the Last Supper and long passages in church do tend to drag. The movie’s 78 minute running time is padded with a great many scenes of rocky coastline, crashing surf, and blowing grass and flowers. There’s a great deal of homoerotic petting but whether or not the pair ever actually get it on is left up to our imaginations.