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Boy Erased

Country: USA, Language: English, 115 mins

  • Director: Joel Edgerton
  • Writer: Garrard Conley; Joel Edgerton
  • Producer: Joel Edgerton; Steve Golin; Kerry Kohansky-Roberts

CGiii Comment

Be warned. Prepare yourself...this film will tear you, rip you, break you apart.

Many LGBT people-of-faith will recoil at what they will see...good...and, many [if not all] should question their strange devotion to a book that plainly despises them. Yes, yes...we have all heard of the contemporary interpretations...eating shrimp is [also] an abomination...but, until every single person gets on-board with [and accepts unequivocally] the contemporary interpretations, the bible will [still] be taken literally, by too many idiots...resulting in the tyrannical hate that is spewed from these ungodliest of mouths.

Ex-gay supremo, Victor Sykes [real name: John Smid]...you are a criminal, a charlatan, a liar, a fraud and, a gargantuan hypocrite of unparalleled standing. Call yourself a christian!?! You are the complete antithesis of what a christian is meant to be! Atone...for the damaged lives, for the lives lost...may 'your' god forgive you...the highest court in the land should [now] intervene for your crimes against humanity!

And...for the crimes still being committed, it's not enough simply banning conversion therapy, those who practice it are violent, psychological criminals who prey on and harm the vulnerable...they should experience the full might of the law. Contain them!

The [imagined and - weirdly - perceived] reconciliation of faith and homosexuality is - quite frankly - an absurdity that will never go away.There is no such a thing a reconciliation! It's there in black and white...a-b-o-m-i-n-a-t-i-o-n!

Thankfully, the big business that is the [bible-bashing arm of the] church has jumped in...offering - at an immodest stipend - a cure. Haha...if you're poor, you're going to rot in a gay hell!

Money, money, money, money, money...if you happen to be rich, And you feel like a strange entertainment. You can pay for...ex-gay conversion therapy!

Because...money - so they say, Is the root of all evil today - That clinking, clanking, clunking sound, Is all that makes the church go 'round.

Don't give me that do goody good bullshit. Boom boom!

Let's face it...the only way faith and homosexuality can be reconciled is - simply - by burning the bible! Rip it up and start again.

Back to the film...

Here are the Bible-Bashers that we hear too much of...in one utterly horrific scene, the literal becomes the reality. They - collectively - bash a kid with bibles!!!

God loves everyone. These christians only love themselves!

There is an unsettling aesthetic to the film, the colour palette exudes an autumnal warmth...yet, there is no warmth whatsoever. Instead, there's a distinct chill that just gets colder and colder. Joel Edgerton's direction manages to make you feel seat-shiftingly uncomfortable - as it should - as you watch this beautifully-filmed torture.

Lucas Hedges does 'compliant son' to a tee...bending all the way until his breaking point. Each and every characters is taken to their breaking point...it's the stuff of short, sharp intakes of breath are made of...the tears don't take too long to follow behind.

Troye Sivan's music - again - creates an aesthetic, a gentle warmth...when there is none to be had...which speaks volumes. It's a film with so many carefully constructed contradictions, immovable faith moves, where good intentions are nothing of the sort, when loves is conditional and then it's not, how temptation can be found on every street corner...it's one helluva journey!

There's a tear, there's a touch and there's a moment of profound courage...each a heartbreak. But, the true heartbreak is that this is still going on...[wealthy] parents are [still] coercing their children into these bogus institutions. It has to stop. Now. And...those responsible held accountable.

A truly terrifying, absolutely harrowing and monumentally moving film.


Trailer...

The(ir) Blurb...

“Boy Erased” tells the story of Jared (Hedges), the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, who is outed to his parents (Kidman and Crowe) at age 19. Jared is faced with an ultimatum: attend a conversion therapy program – or be permanently exiled and shunned by his family, friends, and faith. Boy Erased is the true story of one young man’s struggle to find himself while being forced to question every aspect of his identity.

Cast & Characters

Lucas Hedges as Jared
Nicole Kidman as Nancy
Joel Edgerton as Victor Sykes
Russell Crowe as Marshall
Xavier Dolan as Jon
Troye Sivan as Gary
Jesse LaTourette as Sarah
Britton Sear as Cameron
David Ditmore as Phillip
Matt Burke as Simon
William Ngo as Carl
Lindsey Moser as Tina
Emily Hinkler as Lee
David Joseph Craig as Michael
Victor McCay as Aaron