Hittman paints with a delicate brush, and gets a strong performance out of newcomer Dickinson, who gives Frankie a soft soul beneath his chiseled physique.
This is territory far more ambitious than American independent narrative has covered recently, and it marks [Writer-director Eliza] Hittman as a major new voice in our national cinema.
This very thinly sliced character study of beautiful if benighted adolescence is more a pre-coming-of-age tale, one that takes us close to, but not through, the transformative acquisition of good judgment.
Director Eliza Hittman's sublime character study refuses to deal in absolutes or conventional wisdom, opting instead to track her character's every move with a non-judgmental hypnotic gaze.
It's not the feel-good movie of the year, but it's a powerfully rendered reminder that coming of age can be harrowing, and hurtful to others, even in our purportedly more open-minded country.
As an exploration of toxic masculinity, a rarely seen side of New York, a teen's uncertainty, Beach Rats works beautifully, up to a point - but you can't take it out of the cultural context in which it appears.
