The Reel Review
A mussel farmer in North Wales must reconcile his long-repressed same sex attraction with a very conservative community and complex family dynamics when he becomes romantically involved with a boat skipper who just arrived in his tiny village. Barry Ward, Lorne MacFadyen and Liz White star in this LGBTQ+ romantic drama.
Writer/director Helen Walsh uses a suffocating, windswept grey color palette to symbolize the dreariness of Jack’s sexually repressed life. By comparison, when he’s at sea with his love interest Daniel, there is vivid color. The film is reminiscent of other gay romantic dramas Brokeback Mountain and God’s Own Country, but is still unique in its realistic portrait of the challenges of conservative, small-town life. Ward and MacFadyen both give authentic, heartfelt performances as the two leads.
One of the strongest aspects of On the Sea is how Walsh incorporates complex family dynamics into the story. Jack is in remission from a bout with cancer, getting too old for the demanding physical labor of his mussel farm which he co-owns with his boorish brother, who is resentful about having to run the business with his adult sons during Jack’s cancer treatments. Jack’s own son seems to have no interest in taking over the family business, and Jack’s emotionally distant wife has a gut punch of a revelation in the film’s final act.
REEL FACTS
• On the Sea writer/director Helen Walsh is also an award-winning novelist (“Brass,” “Once Upon a Time in England”). Born in Cheshire, England near North Wales, her screenwriting/directing credits include the 2024 crime series The Gathering and 2015’s The Violators.
• Barry Ward (Bad Sisters, Dating Amber, Extra Ordinary) is from Ireland, with Lorne MacFadyen (Lucky Strike, Starstruck, Operation Mincemeat) born on the Isle of Skye in Scotland.
• On the Sea was filmed in and around the Welsh town of Amlwch on the east coast of Anglesey.
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