"On the Sea" Review: A Tender Tale of Forbidden Love in a Welsh Fishing Village

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Away from the disapproval of their Welsh fishing community, two men embark on a passionate affair in Helen Walsh’s poignant drama

Barry Ward brings sincerity and force to this well-intended, well-acted Brokeback drama of forbidden love in a remote north Wales fishing community. It comes from writer-director Helen Walsh, who is that rare and valuable figure in the arts world: a novelist who is of equal status as an original film-maker. (Her debut feature The Violators came out 11 years ago.)

Ward plays Jack, a middle-aged man beset with cares. He is getting too old for the hard physical labour of raking mussel beds; he co-owns this business jointly with his quarrelsome, boorish brother Dyfan (Celyn Jones), who resents the time Jack has spent away from work receiving treatment for cancer which is now in remission. Jack has been with his wife Maggie (Liz White) since they were 16; they are both concerned about their son Tom (Henry Lawfull) getting into bad company and failing to help with the mussel business – although they both like Tom’s smart, level-headed girlfriend Lois (a small role for Leisa Gwenllian, the star of the recent Welsh-language drama Effi o Blaenau ).

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