Joel Edgerton directs Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe in this true story about the son of a preacher who is enrolled into gay conversion therapy when he starts to explore his sexuality.

There’s been a few of these recently. The Miseducation of Cameron Post was a bit more fun, and (I assume) more accessible to actual gay teens. This wants to explore the therapy itself. The harm and exploitative nature of it. The film suffers slightly from the fact that our real life source, Garrard Conley, only spent a few days in the indoctrination stages of his “clinic”. He feels like a lucky one but it doesn’t help the film. He comes from a loving if misguided home and has the self worth and strength to walk out when it becomes clear the scam psychology being used is there to trap these poor kids into continual harmful therapy. This works better as a family drama than as an expose. The acting is superb, with Kidman and Crowe proving their worth as the well shaded, fallible parents. Edgerton is a great director of movie stars and he strives to make every shot impactful.

6

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