Event

Screen Queen Presents: Beautiful Thing

Screen Queen Presents is a Monday night queer film series hosted by Josh Vogelsong at Suns Cinema. Guests can expect to see a wide range of both mainstream & underground selections, working to cover the entire film & queer spectrum.

BEAUTIFUL THING
1996
HETTIE MACDONALD
90 MIN

In this alternately somber and witty coming-of-age drama, a pair of teenage boys growing up in a working-class neighborhood become aware of their homosexuality. Introspective Jamie (Glen Berry) is the son of Sandra (Linda Henry), a tough but warm-hearted barmaid who lives in a public housing block in a rough-and-tumble section of South London. Living a few doors away is Jamie's classmate Ste (Scott Neal), an athletic type who often has to take a beating from his hard-drinking father and hard-headed brother. One night, Jamie and Sandra discover that Ste has been kicked out of the apartment and has nowhere to spend the night; Jamie lets him stay at his place, and a casual closeness eventually stirs sexual feelings. While both were vaguely aware they might be gay, neither had ever acted on their impulses, and once Jamie and Ste decide that they're attracted to each other, neither is sure just what to do. Tony (Ben Daniels), Sandra's boyfriend, doesn't know what to think about Jamie's new lifestyle. Meanwhile, Jamie and Ste are themselves a bit puzzled by their neighbor Leah (Tameka Empson), a teenager obsessed with the life and music of Mama Cass Elliott.

"Beautiful Thing might be the most beloved of all the gay-youth movies released in the late 90s" - Eric Henderson, Slant

"Represents a keen, personal look at the difficulties of growing up gay in a heterosexual world." - Reelviews