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BOY ERASED ****
Dir: Joel Edgerton (15, 115 mins)
A gay conversion camp is the destination for a young man growing up in a Baptist household where homosexuality is seen as sinful. This drama directed by actor Joel Edgerton stars Lucas Hedges as Jared, based on the memoir Boy Erased by Garrard Conley. Brought up in the faith by parents Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman, Hedges is forcibly outed after being raped by a fellow college student played by Joe Alwyn. Unsure of what his own sexuality actually is, he is a given a stark choice by his parents. Does he want to change? He answers yes and is sent to a gay conversion camp, run by Joel Edgerton’s apparently principled Sykes. What follows is a restrained but still ultimately enraging glimpse of an institution trying to drum out something innate in the name of a ‘higher power’. Hedges is excellent as he realises who he is, while Crowe and Kidman are three-dimensional parents, not cardboard baddies. A thoughtful, well-observed film. Opens Feb 8