Part of Queer Qlassics
Hettie Macdonald’s (NORMAL PEOPLE) directorial debut, BEAUTIFUL THING — originally planned for television — was so well received that it had a wide release in U.K. cinemas in June 1996. It tells the story of Jamie and his classmate Ste as they dance around ideas of friendship, intimacy and trust within the walls of their high-rise concrete homestead in working class South East London. Their days are shared with Jamie’s mom Sandra and her hippie boyfriend Tony — and their Mama Cass-obessed neighbor Leah. Against a backdrop of stark postwar buildings and sometimes dire circumstances, Macdonald creates luminous scenes of compassion and the sense of home. Now 30 years on, this beloved boy meets boy story is more prevalent than ever.
“BEAUTIFUL THING marks a significant departure from the hitherto quaintness of queer British cinema – an ode to youth grounded in the reality of what it meant to grow up queer in ?’90s Britain.” —Emily Maskell, Little White Lies
“Don't be alarmed if during the opening moments of BEAUTIFUL THING, you have the dislocating sense of being catapulted back three decades to the mad, mod world of GEORGY GIRL. That's because the cheery voice on the soundtrack belongs to none other than Mama Cass Elliot belting ''It's Getting Better,'' a late-’60s hit whose jangly folk-pop sound echoes the theme song from the movie that made Lynn Redgrave a star.” —Stephen Holden, New York Times