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God's Own Country
Drama, Romance
Johnny Saxby (Josh O’Connor) is given to over-drinking, and lives on a Yorkshire farm with his stroke-hobbled father (Ian Hart) and aged grandmother (Gemma Jones). One morning at a livestock auction, he has sex with a stranger in a bathroom. We infer that the bathroom hookup was not his first, but he’s not out of the closet, and not interested in romance—until the arrival of Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu), a swarthy Romanian farmhand Johnny’s dad hires. This raw, tender and at times deeply sensual feature debut from writer-director Francis Lee invites comparison to Brokeback Mountain—sparks fly when Johnny and Gheorghe undertake a multi-day job that requires camping on a remote corner of the property—but it’s less tragic, focused on Johnny’s internal struggle to accept the love offered to him. The most pivotal scenes are wordless (good thing, as it could have used subtitles for a lot of the Saxbys’ dialogue), with natural, unselfconscious performances by O’Connor and Secareanu. Though it’s Johnny’s story, his father and grandmother are not unimportant, as Lee deftly reminds us in a few well-placed moments that make this an above-average gay coming-of-age drama.
Official Site: www.godsowncountryfilm.com
Director: Francis Lee
Producer: Manon Ardisson, Jack Tarling, Cavan Ash, Mary Burke, Anna Duffield, Richard Holmes, Diarmid Scrimshaw, Paul Webster and Celine Haddad
Cast: Josh O'Connor, Alec Secareanu, Gemma Jones, Ian Hart, Patsy Ferran, Melanie Kilburn, Liam Thomas and Sarah White
Director: Francis Lee
Producer: Manon Ardisson, Jack Tarling, Cavan Ash, Mary Burke, Anna Duffield, Richard Holmes, Diarmid Scrimshaw, Paul Webster and Celine Haddad
Cast: Josh O'Connor, Alec Secareanu, Gemma Jones, Ian Hart, Patsy Ferran, Melanie Kilburn, Liam Thomas and Sarah White
