Sharon Raphael

It involved me from the beginning. The early scenes in the midwest set the stage well for later events in SF. First of all I am a Lesbian & spent my vacations several times a year over 40 years in SF including the 70’s & 80’s which Fairyland depicted. I had Gay men friends & a Gay male relative who lived there during the height of the AIDS Pandemic. The Father- Daughter relationship was well acted by both performers. I wasn’t that aware it was acting which is a good sign. The story focused on the daughter’s experiences & sometimes the Dad though loving was not that sensitive to his daughter’s needs. And at her private school she becomes embarrassed by her Dad’s Gay identity. She hides the fact he is Gay from her high school buddies. This may be believable. But in SF at the height of Gay Pride happening not sure but since it is a true story who am I to question it. The character regrets her homophobic actions later when her Dad is dying of AIDS & tells her former girl buddy the truth. The daughter who is obviously straight & has a French boyfriend she met in Paris & leaves to take care of dying Gay Father. She is tested by the crippling affects of the whole AIDS scene & her Dad who is totally dependent on her. In the end. She completely embraces her Dad & the Gay people she has known. It was worth watching.

This was a well done powerful movie about the evil twisted affect that conversion therapy has in this case on one innocent Gay young man named Jared. The acting performances were outstanding. I was very impressed by all the actors but I was very impressed and surprised by Nicole Kiddman’s Portrayal of the young man’s Mother and how she handled her husband the minister who accepts conversion therapy as the right approach to his son’s Gayness. Boy Erased is a serious movie that makes a difference and is more than worth watching. If only the subject of brainwashing of lgbtq persons was a remnant of a misguided past and history. Sadly it is not.