BOY ERASED

Out now / CERT 15 / 110 mins

In Boy Erased, Lucas Hedges puts in a powerful performance as Jared, a young man forced to sign up to an anti-gay programme after a violent incident results in him being outed. Emoting so much with few words — particularly opposite Nicole Kidman as his caring-but-conflicted mother and Russell Crowe’s stricter father — he imbues him with silent strength as he grapples with his identity. Xavier Dolan and troye Sivan — who also sings the gorgeous end-credits track — are equally impressive as his brain-washed, detached peers, their characters highlighting the degree of damage oppressive pseudoscience can inflict. Shame can be a frustratingly frequent theme in queer cinema, and you’d struggle to find a film that languishes in it quite like a conversion therapy drama. And yet, Joel Edgerton’s adaptation of Garrard Conley’s dark memoir deftly avoids sensationalism to create a sensitive yet stirring film that condemns the practice without pitying its protagonist.