Some movies have taught us that crime pays by glamorising it, but Dragged Across Concrete's message is more ambiguous. Watch to decide for yourself. -Lucas Hedges is on his way to becoming Hollywood's go-to poster boy for troubled teens wrestling with personal demons.
After being saved from drug addiction by on-screen mum Julia Roberts in the recent Ben Is Back, it is now Nicole Kidman's turn to help his character - the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town - escape gay conversion therapy. Opening exclusively at The Projector on March 30, Boy Erased is a biographical drama based on Garrard Conley's 2016 memoir of the same name, written for the screen and directed by Joel Edgerton, who also stars as the controversial programme's chief therapist.
The film proceeds a tad too gently, with a touch-and-go approach on the sensitive subject matter and characters. Getting a glimpse into what happens inside these"camps" is initially fascinating, but Edgerton does not push it far or deep enough when it comes to the conflict between sexuality and religion, so we never quite get a handle on Hedges' internal struggle.