15 Best Hidden Gem Movies Of 2017
10. Beach Rats
Set in blue-collar Brooklyn over the course of a long hot summer, Beach Rats is writer-director Eliza Hittman’s second feature film. It tells the tale of its teenage protagonist Frankie (breakout British talent Harris Dickinson) who spends his days doing macho adolescent male things like chasing girls and committing petty crimes with his mates but by night trawls websites looking for older gay men to hook up with.
Despite his best efforts to keep his two lives separate, Frankie’s worlds inevitably collide with devastating consequences in a film that’s both moving and disturbing. But in a big year for LGBT cinema, Beach Rats was competing with the likes of bigger-budget films with bigger name stars like Call Me by Your Name and Battle of the Sexes and got largely overlooked.
It did get some love after its Sundance premiere in the form of a Directing Award for Hittman but has found itself nominated in the same categories – Best Cinematography and Best Male Lead – as Call My by Your Name at the Independent Spirit Awards. Whether it can topple Luca Guadagnino’s much-loved LGBT romance at the 2018 Indies remains to be seen.