Fair Haven

The controversial, emotionally wrenching practice of conversion therapy for gays is the starting point for this thoughtful, gentle story about a young man caught between his own identity and pressure to follow through on Christian-based reparative “treatment” to turn him straight. Nineteen-year-old James (Michael Grant) is taken home by his remote widower father, Richard (Tom Wopat), following a stint at a conversion clinic run by a zealous doctor (Gregory Harrison). Discovering that his dad paid for the therapy with James's college savings, the already dispirited son feels trapped by a bleak future on a failing family farm when what he really wants is to pursue his dreams as a talented pianist. Pushed toward a relationship with a bright, earnest young woman (Lily Anne Harrison) while cautiously reconnecting with a potential soulmate (Josh Green), James slowly becomes the man he is meant to be despite obstacles. The moving script by Jack Bryant eschews thinly disguised lectures about the obvious problems with gay conversion, instead wisely allowing the relationships to speak for themselves. And the cast is first-rate, with Wopat in particular doing a terrific job playing a somewhat lost man torn between his principles and muted love for his son. Recommended. (T. Keogh)