The Bay Boy

The trouble with this attractively photographed story of the pangs of adolescence, set against the background of a dismal mining town on the coast of Nova Scotia in 1937, is that it is too busy. So much happens to the young hero that he barely has time to react to one event before he has to be ready for the next: murder, homo- and heterosexual advances, first love, torn loyalties, loss of virginity. Thus experience changes no one, and the spectator gets little out of it. Redeeming features are some excellent performances, and two brilliantly directed seduction scenes.