Boy Erased (2018)

Charismatic, popular son of a Baptist preacher is gay, but struggling with that because of the beliefs of his church, community, family and himself. I grew up in church, so this whole way of thinking isn't new to me: if what you are isn't in line with what the church says is right, press that shit DOWN or you cannot be accepted by other believers or even God himself.

There was a lot this movie got right, doing an especially good job of exposing the abuse that can go on when you shame a person about who he is. I'm not talking about the abuse of gay conversion therapy itself (though that is abhorrent), I'm talking about sexual assault that is unlikely to be reported by someone so ashamed of his or her own sexual thoughts and feelings. Also, Nicole Kidman was absolutely wonderful. That said, the film did not go far enough -- the conversion therapy felt sanitized. I know it's a lot worse than what we were shown.

B-