When writer-director Francis Lee appeared at last year's Frameline after showing his film "God's Own Country" to a standing ovation at the Castro Theatre, he remarked, "I've never seen this many people in one place in my entire life!" His movie has just been released on DVD by Samuel Goldwyn, and on viewing it one can understand Lee's amazement. Both he and the film are rooted in a remote, sparsely populated area, West Yorkshire near Britain's Pennine Mountains, the famous moorlands. This bleak landscape has a way of seeping into the lives of the people who inhabit it. Lee's debut is one of the finest in queer film history, assisted by a spellbinding chemistry between the two lead actors.
We are drawn into a struggling family farm where stroke-ridden father Martin Saxby (Ian Hart, excellent) and elderly grandmother Deidre (Gemma Jones, terrific) are dependent on irresponsible son/grandson Johnny (Josh O'Connor, a revelation) to keep things running. The pressures become unbearable on him, with friends having fled the area to college. His only outlets to relieve loneliness are binge drinking and furtive sex with local guys - not even looking at them, expressing disdain when one post-coital man asks him "to have a pint." When Johnny neglects a pregnant cow, leading to the death of her calf, Martin hires Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu, stunning), a Romanian migrant, to work during birthing season. At first hostile, Johnny calls him Gypo, for Gypsy. But the confident, friendly Gheorghe is skillful and tender with the animals, knowing tricks such as skinning a dead lamb, then wrapping its coat around a runt so the mother sheep will accept him.
Martin sends them away to repair a fence. Unable to fight his feelings, the emotionally numb Johnny has sex with Gheorghe outside in the mud. Their union brings more sensual exploration as the days pass. Martin is hospitalized with another stroke, so the two men are in charge of running the farm. Gheorghe cooks, puts daffodils on the table, almost tames the wild Johnny. Gheorghe finds the gritty countryside beautiful, and helps Johnny to see his homeland in a different light. But, reacting to the enormous pressures of running the farm once Martin is totally incapacitated, Johnny acts out, and Gheorghe leaves for Scotland. Johnny slowly realizes how much he needs Gheorghe. But can he get him back?
Some critics have disparagingly called this movie "Brokeback Moors." There is no doubt that in a few scenes Lee is paying homage to that landmark film, especially when Johnny wears the departed Gheorghe's work sweater, aching for his return. But "God's Own Country" is more upbeat, and less a coming out story than Johnny debating whether he's worthy of love. In a scene where he screams in desperation, "I don't want to be a fuck-up anymore," the transformative power of love is revealed, and the dilemma becomes whether or not he can convey those feelings to Gheorghe.
The gay sexuality here is realistic, along with casual nudity, so there is no doubt that these two men are passionate for each other. The film is raw and naturalistic, and we see every body fluid, human and animal. Farm life is unrelenting in its demands, and its economy extends to the minimal dialogue that makes "God's Own Country" seem like a silent movie in spots, dependent on gestures. Viewers might want to use the subtitle/close-caption option, as there is frequent use of English slang that will be unfamiliar to American viewers, but you always know what's happening. The movie is pro-immigration, supporting the contributions that refugees can make, as Gheorghe is more proficient at running a farm than Johnny, but it's never overtly political.
Here a first-time director, who won the 2017 Sundance Film Festival's World Cinema Director award, universalizes a remote area and makes these almost illiterate farmers believably attractive, even shattering stereotypes, as the grandmother is not the homophobe one might expect. Whether or not O'Connor and Secareanu are gay, they make you believe Johnny and Gheorghe and their romance are real. "God's Own Country" is the best LGBTQ film of 2017.