Once a Year on Blackpool Sands (2021)

If only this had had a more focussed auteur then it could have made for a far more potent tale of growing up gay in England in the 1950s. Instead, Karlton Parris rather misses his open goal and provides us with a meandering film that largely underwhelms. That said, there are two strong performances here from Kyle Brookes ("Eddy") and Macauley Cooper's "Tommy" as we relive a story told by way of a retrospective of their forbidden love. The pair have been friends since they were nippers and have been having a clandestine relationship, the odd shag in the pigeon shed, for a while before they embark on their family's annual holiday to the coast - and Blackpool. Homosexuality is still very much illegal - and frowned upon - in Britain and before they travel we, but not "Tommy", know that "Eddy" has a secret. The holiday is like any gathering - people get fractious, fed up and rattled by each other - and the two men, increasingly frustrated by their inability to be open like everyone else, find their relationship severely tested as truths come out on all fronts. Add to this frequently toxic mix their new friendship with local transvestite "James" (an engaging, if sparing, effort from Dominic McCavish) and the scene is set for plenty of familial set-toos and a denouement that, unfortunately, the flashback nature of the story telling has already largely revealed. There's far too much script, the scenarios are often over-contrived and the essential love story between these two men fighting for their identity is largely lost amongst a clutter of too many other characters and sub-plots. Bluntly, the narrative is a mess. At times it does resonate. Being gay here, then, was dangerous and nigh-on impossible - but this really doesn't capitalise well enough on the point it is really hoping to make. Pity - when it is just the two men by themselves, it sort of works.