Joel Edgerton takes on three roles making the tense, troubling story of gay conversion therapy. The film is based on the memoir by Garrard Conley who went through it. Edgerton (Loving, Midnight Special) read the book and when he couldn’t stop thinking about it, he started writing a script about it, then decided to direct and star in it. This is one tough film to sit through, but Edgerton handles the material with sensitivity and respect for each one of his characters.
Lucas Hedges, (in one of three gut wrenching roles this year) stars as Jared Eamons, the good, dutiful son of an Arkansas Evangelical clergyman (Russell Crowe). Jared recognizes that he is gay, but fights it. After a traumatic experience in a scene showing him being brutally raped by his best friend in his college dorm room, he has to struggle with the aftermath as well as his identity.
Jared and his mother Nancy (Nicole Kidman) are ruled with a velvet-gloved iron fist by Marshall (Crowe). These parents genuinely love their son but where Nancy (Nicole Kidman) responds with sadness, love and a more open heart, Marshall spouts the Baptist “company line” of zero tolerance when Jared is embarrassingly outed. Marshall demands his son endure conversion therapy or he’ll be cut out of the family.
Jared and his mother have a special bond. There is a shot at the door of his room where they hug and their profiles are framed in the mirror on the wall. It’s a tender moment showing how she loves this boy unconditionally. She progressively realizes that she has always been told what to do by the men in her life. Kidman’s performance is notable showing her struggle between obeying their rules and listening to her son.
Edgerton writes with surgical precision using direct language and leaves room for the camera to linger on Jared’s numb, yet pained face. Edgerton describes Hedges’ ability to hold the screen without having to say a word. He shows the gripping tension, fear and skepticism as he faces his parents. Edgerton as Victor Sykes, is the director of the Christian based facility that “turns” young men away from their sinful ways against “our beliefs and returns them to the grace of God.” Ironically, it’s called “Love in Action.”
Edgerton is cold and calculating brow beating these boys and a girl who he is determined to knock the gayness out of. The film also shows what a business he’s made out of keeping his students with their parents paying forever until the goal is reached. And he reveals how many of these conversion therapy centers there are around the United States.
There is a class of young boys who go through the strict program including mental and physical trials with severe and humiliating punishment to basically beat their gay demons out of them. The brain washing is strict and unnerving. Egerton is scary as Sykes and you’ll find out more interesting information about him in the credits of the film.
Sykes oversees an institution that is just as oppressive and threatening to its inmates as any prison, except they do it in the name of religion. The poor souls in the “program” have done nothing wrong. They are normal, good kids except in the eyes of organized religion and their families who find their gayness abhorrent. Scariest of all is Sykes’ right hand man, Brandon, played by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Edgerton directs him into leering, sneering enforcer who oozes hate and disgust.
All the boys and one girl, Sarah (Jesse LaTourette in a heartbreaking role amid all the sadness around her) learn to play the game to tell Sykes what he wants to hear while no one is changing on either side of the room. Jared learns the ropes of survival from the tinted blonde Gary, played by pop star Troye Sivan in his first acting job and he wrote the song “Revelation” for the film.
Hedges and Sivan were surprised by Edgerton’s ability to direct and act as if it was just a flip of a switch going from his American accent acting as the evil Sykes and directing in his Australian one. Edgerton found that the boys seemed to listen better when he directed them in Australian.
Crowe’s role is a difficult one and not just because he gained 50 pounds to play Jared’s Dad. His Marshall is stern, stubborn, mean, adamant, yet loves his son. The actor shows how believing that having a gay son reflects on his own life is bad for business as a preacher. But Crowe still shows a sensitivity trying to understand and fix what he feels is his own problem. He’s strong in the role and although you won’t like him, he makes you understand his own personal struggle.
Once Edgerton sets the plot in motion, his approach to the subject matter begins feeling more like a horror movie. Even without any bloody physical violence, Edgerton and Hedges still make this a white knuckle ride. One very disturbing scene is when Sykes and Flea put one boy named Cameron (Britton Sear) to the test in front of the class in a heartbreaking scene that eventually takes a terrible toll. Cinematographer Eduard Grau adds to the overpowering dread with his deliberate, almost clinical shots that reveal the inner turmoil with an almost newsy feel.
This is a film that is frightening and very emotional showing the raw nerves and fear of those who struggle with their sexual identity. It’s made worse when these people come out or are found out. Edgerton wants this film to not only help those in the LGBTQ community, but parents and relatives so they will be more understanding, sensitive and accepting. The director put together an exceptional ensemble. Crowe and Hedges are remarkable and Kidman is incredible as the Mother who finally stands up for herself and chooses love over dogma. So is Edgerton as writer/director/actor. See this film. Not only the performances, but this story won’t be easily erased from your mind.
