‘Boy Erased’ is director Joel Edgerton’s take on the controversial subject of gay conversion therapy. Edgerton’s adaptation of the Garrard Conley memoir is very powerful. Its subject matter is handled very delicately from the fear it ultimately comes from to the people that fear harms. The film draws from facts, real pain, real experiences, and Edgerton displays it openly for us, showing us one character after another’s experience in this hideous program but then laser focusing in on one character, Jared Eamons (Hedges), to take you deeper into their ordeals. There’s a postscript statistic displayed at the end of the film that, ‘over 700,000 Americans have been subjected to conversion therapy and over 20,000 Americans are currently affected by this abusive practice.’ After watching the film, it’s hard not to walk away stunned especially after being hit with those numbers. It’s appalling to think that in this day and age abuse and humiliating to control and manipulate is still being used.

Jared is the son of Marshall (Crowe), a southern preacher, and his wife Nancy (Kidman). Because of who his father is, Jared must hide who he is. He’s successfully hidden it from the world and even lies to himself. He does this until he’s faced with a female friend who comes on strong. He thinks fast and turns her down with the excuse of waiting until marriage. He navigates his youth and gets to college where he feels safer to relax and at least talk to other boys without scrutiny. He begins to make friends and becomes especially close to a boy his age named Henry (Alwyn) who he has a lot in common with. Henry ends up taking advantage of the naïve preacher’s kid one night and rapes him. This scene is quite horrific, but Edgerton doesn’t shy away from its brutality. He uses it to show that sexual assault and this type of abuse exists in nature and might also be suggesting the reason why some people are the way they are. Violation based on anger doesn’t discriminate based on sex. Jared avoids Henry and eventually goes back home. Henry isn’t happy about his friend leaving him and worries Jared is going to tell o he ‘Outs’ Jared to his parents.

This leads to his father consulting some church elders who decide that his mind could be altered using conversion therapy which is supported by the ministry. He can be cured of his homosexuality if he takes the steps to prove he wants to be cured. The program is similar to AA but heavily Bible-based. It’s led by Victor Sykes (Edgerton) who comes at them from an aggressive, militant angle. He’s going to make them men if he has to pound it into them himself. Jared is instantly miserable but sees that he’s not alone in the world. There are others denying who they really are to make someone else embrace and accept them. Some are worse off than Jared who has it relatively easy because his parents, as misguided as they are, do still love him. He meets Jon (Dolan) who doesn’t touch anyone because touching to him has mostly been physical abuse and Cameron (Sear) who has an extremely hard time with being forced to tell Sykes what he wants to hear. The boys, in their sterile environment, are treated as prisoners but find subtle ways to show support for one another, however, their support just might not be enough.

The gullibility and innocence coming from Hedges is fantastic which is perfectly followed by a passive-aggressive strategy from Crowe to show he loves his son but knows the world he needs to protect him from. Kidman is a perfectly quaffed Southern charmer who’ll turn into an angry mama bear at a moment’s notice and does so magnificently. This story does trail off in different directions but leads back to Jared and his parents, ending with love and forgiveness which is all that Jared and each and every other human being is asking for in the first place.

This story is based on a memoir written by David and Nic Sheff. It’s about the cycle of drug abuse Nic couldn’t liberate himself from and David who tried everything he could think of to help him escape. The title, ‘Beautiful Boy’ comes from the John Lennon song that David (Carell) used to sing to Nic (Chalamet) when he couldn’t sleep at night be. He was singing it still when Nic was eighteen and laying on the bed passed out from the many drugs that were running through his system. They seized the boy, refusing to loosen their grip but there sits David, stroking his hair remembering the Nic he knew, certain that one day he’d return.

With this film director Felix Van Groeningen, who also had a hand in writing the script, is making available to you a world you’ll find frighteningly realistic and familiar or, hopefully, one you’re blissfully ignorant of yet paralyzed by. Regardless of which it is, you’ll be pleased with the presentation in every design choice he’s made to entertain and captivate you. The score is gorgeous, and the soundtrack is equally pleasing. The cinematography is such that you feel you’re experiencing how Nic feels when he’s high while concurrently reminded of what his exposure and reliance on the drugs is doing to those who love him. We’ve all seen the drug abuse movie before but not the way Van Groeningen brings it to you. David is desperate to help rescue Nic and he rummages through Nic’s things. While he does this, we watch memories of Nic in various stages of childhood run through his mind. We watch them grow close and see when Nic begins to pull away

Nic tells him that he’s tried almost every drug there is but likes methamphetamine’s the most. He goes on to say that meth makes him feel better than he has ever felt in his life. Upon hearing this, you can feel the pain ripple through David as he realizes his child prefers drugs and what they can give him to the unconditional love he has always offered.

David researches rehab facilities several times but for the most part, they’re unsuccessful, as is Nic’s lies about getting sober. David’s hopes are dashed when he’s told that Nic’s particular addictions have a success rate in the single digits. In order to get to know his son more, he takes some cocaine himself and starts talking to people who use. He does everything he can to learn not only what he can understand what Nic likes so much but about whether or not it’s time to do the inevitable and let him go.

You may not like the use of flashbacks and cuts in editing that constantly take you from one stage of Nic’s life to another; one stage of David’s discovery to the next. It sometimes gets a little hard to keep up but it’s reasonable to assume this the impression Van Groeningen wanted to leave you with is one of nervousness, restlessness and anxiety so you could understand the Sheff’s that much more.  

Chalamet is flawless in his take on Nic. He was fully committed to the part even using facial tics the young child actor who played him as a little boy has when on screen. I predict right now that he’ll be walking up to the stage to accept an Academy Award or at the very least will be nominated for this outstanding performance. This is a very powerful and heartbreaking story. I recommend you see this as soon as humanly possible.  

“First Man” is a gripping personal view of one of humanity’s crowning achievements. When three astronauts traveled to the Moon, and two of them touched down and explored the lunar surface, it was a stunning accomplishment. Now there is a movie that defines the inner drive and personal demons of that initial person who put down a boot onto the crusty dust of the Earth’s satellite. That person was Neil Armstrong, and he was the “First Man” to get that historical privilege. This movie is a reminder of the technological push of the 1960’s that took America to the Moon and back.

Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) is an engineer and a test pilot at NASA. He is not one of the military-bred astronauts that first rose in the ranks of the Air Force. Yet his cool-headed ability to think deeply, even in extreme circumstances, makes him a valuable addition to the group of space-bound pioneers. He and his wife Janet (Claire Foy) have a perfect 1960’s marriage. She tends the home front, and he ventures into space. Neil and Janet have a young daughter named Karen, but she passes away from cancer. Even with all the up-to-date technology, their little two-year-old could not be saved. They already have a son, and soon after, they have one more boy. But Neil is shattered inside from the pain of his loss. He is introverted and a shy person to begin with, so the loss does not help.

Neil has skills and knows how to take high-level math equations and then using that knowledge to fly and pilot a spacecraft. He has experience with the experimental rocket planes, and he jumps at the chance to get into the Gemini program. That space program will be another step on the way to the big cheese – the Moon. The Gemini craft will hold two astronauts, and the planned Apollo mission will carry three. When Neil gets selected, he is very pleased to be working for former astronaut Deke Slayton (Kyle Chandler). The Gemini missions will be important to pave the way for Apollo and moon landings. The mission that gets Neil into space goes well, and the docking tests go smoothly. That is, until there is a problem with the thrusters…

Neil and his fellow astronaut are soon spinning out-of-control. Neil figures out a way to reverse the bad thruster, and gets the Gemini under control again. It uses up most all the fuel, so the mission needs to be aborted. But one bad mission left the astronauts safe. Not so with the first testing of Apollo 1, with all three astronauts on-board in the capsule. In the simulated launch, there was an electrical spark that ignited the pure oxygen in the capsule. All three died in the test, and the Apollo missions were delayed for a while. But then Neil was picked for Apollo 11, as was Buzz Aldrin (Corey Stoll) and Michael Collins (Lukas Haas). This was the mission that would go to the Moon, land and explore the surface, and get the three explorers back in one piece.

Neil and Buzz make it to the lunar surface, and they are true explorers. But every step of the way was a catastrophe that did not happen. Every piece of equipment had potential for failure, no matter how many engineers worked on the design. Some of the people lost their lives along the way to Neil’s ‘one small step’.  He knows that, and he knows that his safe return is only the best of the calculated odds. His trip is successful and NASA still explores into space.

Damien Chazelle has taken the story of the first man on the moon and explored the difficult personal journeys of the people involved. There is always an emphasis on the characters and what they can see and how they react to all the events that surround them. Even with a ground-breaking walk on the moon, there is the inner pain of Armstrong’s loss of his daughter. The launch is not shown as a breath-taking wide shot of the rocket zooming into the sky. There is a real person strapped into the Spam can attached to the top of a big firecracker. The sounds of creaking and straining bolts make you think at any moment it will become the Fourth of July.

Ryan Gosling plays Neil Armstrong ass a very soft-spoken and subdued man. He is always examining and recalculating the situation, to make sure there is way to continue the mission. That includes his marriage. Claire Foy also gives a powerful performance as Janet; the wife who needs to raise her kids but is not afraid to raise her voice. The other actors have also been cast with an idea as to how well they would fit in the 1960’s Space Race.

“First Man” is nearly fifty years in the making since the actual events that mesmerized the world. It tells of real adventure in the outer space, but still keeps in focus the difficult emotions of Armstrong’s inner space.