Wednesday, August 23 – 8 p.m., Sea View Theatre
— from Donna Laslo for Orcas Island Film Festival —
The countdown to the Orcas Island Film festival continues with the summer series of award winning films. On August 23rd at 8 p.m. the Sea View Theatre will host a screening of “God’s Own Country,” a captivating and broodingly beautiful film that is the award winning debut feature from writer/director Francis Lee who is making a big hit on the 2017 film festival circuit. Bracingly open hearted, this is a thrillingly romantic story set in the heart of rural Yorkshire. Both poignant and moving, this finely crafted British film features a host of standout performances, marking it out as an absolute must see.
Johnny Saxby (Josh O’Connor) works long hours on his family’s remote farm in the north of England. He numbs the daily frustration of his lonely existence with nightly binge-drinking at the local pub and casual sex. But when a handsome Romanian migrant worker (Alec Secareanu) arrives to take up temporary work on the family farm, Johnny suddenly finds himself having to deal with emotions he has never felt before. As they begin working closely together during lambing season, an intense relationship starts to form which could change Johnny’s life forever.
The Brokeback Mountain comparisons have been plentiful, and perhaps inevitable, but there’s something subtler and more relevant about God’s Own Country that allows the film to operate within its own parameters – and to deliver a third act that breathes with an honesty and compassion that will likely see it age better than Ang Lee’s 2005 film.
Advance tickets are available at www.orcasfilmfest.com/summer-film-series/. All proceeds will benefit the Orcas Island Film Festival, October 6-9.
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