The Bay Boy

An interesting collection of settings and sets in spite of the small budget. The locations have their charm, and the characters too. Sutherland is a bit unexperienced and monotonous, but the rest of the cast makes up for it. The plot is not too dark and not too light and keeps you wondering what will follow next in spite of some childishness.

Moving, subtle family drama avoids the maudlin entirely despite a melange of multiple dead kids, polio, young love, pedo priests, and the Depression. Also crams a double murder into the middle somewhere and doesn't fuck that up, either, threading through it all an uncommonly intelligent depiction of Catholicism and its intergenerational effects. Sutherland the Younger is excellent in his debut and the Ullmann coup pays off fabulously.