Honey, if you’re craving a queer romance with more grit than a mussel shell, Helen Walsh’s On The Sea just washed into town and it’s every bit as rugged—and beautiful—as the Welsh coastline it’s set in.
The story follows Jack (Barry Ward), a shy mussel-farmer trapped by tradition and marriage, whose routine life is upended when Daniel (Lorne MacFadyen), a nomadic deckhand, catches his eye and his heart in a hush-quiet North Welsh town where the Church still rules the roost.
Filmed on the craggy mussel beds of Anglesey, the movie is as much about place and masculinity as it is about sexuality, with Jack’s internal struggle echoing in the rolling tides and salty winds of his surroundings.
Barry Ward has said that Jack is “very entwined with the place,” a character whose faith, frugality, and community standing feel as real as the fishermen’s calloused hands, while Lorne MacFadyen brings a restless intimacy that feels like a life-raft of longing in human form.
Their sex scenes are described by critics as “robust yet sensitively handled,” speaking volumes where dialogue fails—intimacy that lingers like sea foam, raw and unhurried.
Since premiering in competition at Edinburgh International Film Festival, the film’s been dubbed the “Welsh Brokeback Mountain” by some, and though a few reviews call it shy and undercut by too much symbolism, the performances and setting lingered in viewers’ hearts like sand still under your toes.
If you’re into stories where queerness, place and longing converge in cinematic poetry, then you might also fall for that lovely story on queer journeys in film like Departures: A Raw and Real LGBTQ+ Film Journey, which echoes that same spirit of discovery and raw emotional truth.
We don’t yet know when or where On The Sea will land in U.S. theaters or streaming—though it’s a festival darling in the making—but given its sweep of emotion, landscape and longing, I’d bet my raincoat it’ll find its way to us soon enough.
And if you need more cinematic queer tenderness to tide you over, check out how love and chosen family shine on even in the smallest moments—like in that sweet feature about Fra Fee and Declan Bennett’s “beautiful wedding” that warmed our hearts last year Actors Fra Fee & Declan Bennett’s Beautiful Wedding.
So go ahead—let yourself get swept away by the sea, by two men discovering each other, and by queer stories that keep tidaling back for our hearts.