With thrilling, tense, layered performances from Tom Cullen, Joe Locke, Dylan Michael and a cracking ensemble cast, Black Church Bay never seeks to attribute simple labels or sweeping morals. Jones film is muddy, at times grey and deliberately open-ended as this knotty tale unfolds.
Please be advised this review contains plot details from the opening scenes of Black Church Bay and thematic analysis of the events that follow.
Secrets and lies can eat away at people, consuming every action or inaction and clouding every thought. Guilt can do the same as an individual tries to maintain the persona they have crafted while knowing they carry a burden that, like a burrowing bug, sinks deeper with each movement. Secrets, lies, and guilt are toxic, and they sit at the heart of writer/director Rhys Marc Jones’ atmospheric, nail-biting, and unnerving debut feature, Black Church Bay.
On the coastline of Anglesey, two men walk down a harbour pier, ready to board a small sailboat. They chat casually as they board, a buzz of excitement in the air as another man across the harbour shouts to them. That call from afar shifts the atmosphere, as the man across the harbour assumes they are father and son embarking on a first sailing trip together. It’s an easy mistake to make, and forty-year-old Barry (Tom Cullen) and eighteen-year-old Jasper (Joe Locke) nervously laugh it off. This isn’t a leisurely father-and-son outing, or even an uncle-and-nephew bonding adventure; it’s a secret teacher-and-student relationship that carries significant risk.
Jasper is an overly confident teenager who, like many young gay men, has exploded out of the closet, collecting as many experiences as he can in his eighteenth year. Alongside frequent hookups on apps and sixth form school liaisons, his form tutor, Barry, is the ultimate thrill. But while Jasper bathes in his newfound sexual confidence, Barry remains firmly in the closet. Barry is edgy, unsure of his feelings toward Jasper and even more unsure that this boat trip was a good idea. Barry has long indulged in random, faceless hookups via the same apps as Jasper, outside of his on-and-off relationship with a fellow teacher, Kelly (Marli Siu). Still, he has never taken a risk like the one he is about to take.
As they set sail for Black Church Bay, differing expectations and delicate boundaries threaten to derail their secret rendezvous before it even starts, as Barry nervously tries to maintain a student-teacher relationship, while Jasper eagerly awaits the sex that has been promised. But attraction, hormones and desire win out, as the evening leads to several heated couplings, including one where Jasper secretly records himself giving Barry oral sex. But just as night falls and Barry sleeps, this secret rendezvous takes a dramatic, devastating turn.
As Barry wakes, Jasper is gone. The boy Barry bet his career and reputation on in the name of desire has vanished, and neither the boat nor the silent, cold sea offers any clues about what happened.
With the weekend over, the guilt, secrecy, and doubt are only just beginning as Barry returns to school expecting to see Jasper in his usual seat. But he is not there. Now Barry’s reputation as a respected member of the community and teacher faces events that will eat away at him as questions are asked, search parties organised, and desperation takes hold.
Rhys Marc Jones, who also acts as editor, slowly ratchets up the tension as hours turn to days and days to weeks, with each passing minute taking its toll on Barry, the school community, and Jasper’s closest friends. Like all teenage boys, Jasper had secrets, and he lived his life through social media, videos and pictures, something Barry, like most forty-year-olds, was oblivious to until now.
Throughout Black Church Bay, Jones asks how long our empathy for Barry can last. Is he a well-meaning, caring man foolishly acting on desires he kept locked away? Or is he manipulative and cold, driven by a desire to protect his reputation at all costs? Maybe both can be true at once, and that sits uncomfortably in a modern world that seeks quick labels as the court of public opinion takes precedence over the true complexity of individual choices and actions. As the net tightens around Barry, his choices become more desperate and more uncertain, the school becoming a prison that matches the bars he forged around his desires and sexuality years before. The reality that everything he is was a construct haunts his every decision as that construct crumbles away.
Alongside this fascinating exploration of internal guilt, secrets and lies, Jones also explores the differing attitudes towards heterosexual and homosexual young people. Once Jasper’s sexuality is confirmed, there is almost a sense that a gay young man could have brought this on himself due to his sexual choices. At the same time, his relationship with school friend Miles (Dylan Michael) also takes centre stage, further outing Miles and inflicting damage on his sense of privacy, control and sexuality. In Black Church Bay, the school, the police and the community all fail the people they should protect due to a culture of secrecy and silence.
With thrilling, layered performances from Tom Cullen, Joe Locke, Dylan Michael and a cracking ensemble cast, Black Church Bay never seeks to attribute simple labels or sweeping morals. Jones film is muddy, grey and deliberately open-ended as this knotty tale unfolds. It is a brave and bold feature debut from Rhys Marc Jones that not only asks where empathy and understanding start and stop, but also why gay young people continue to be failed by institutions and by people who should protect them due to continued cultures of secrecy and shame.
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