Sebastian

A young writer explores sex workers circle for write a novel. But this adventure is not easy or cheep and, in profound manner, transforms him .

A not original theme , well reminded , well acted- especially Jonathan Hyde contribution represents a serious good point , realistic - the trace of a Julien Sorel in new version - and a good work of Ruaridh Mollica as Max.

In essence , a clash between editorial world and sex workers one , the reactions , the dialogue, the inspired last scene reminding, in cold - precise manner the laws of a confrontation who gives to young writer chance of significant transformation.

Great part - the relation with mother as oasis in the circle of chain of tensions.

Max is a 25-year-old aspiring writer living in London. Alongside his journalist job, he works on his first novel, centered on gay male prostitution. Max finds his inspiration in an original way: he recounts his own experiences as an escort, under the alias of Sebastian. He is embodied on screen by Ruaridh Mollica, a charming and talented actor. Ruaridh perfectly conveys the inner complexity of his character. He is in almost every shot, including the numerous and graphic sex scenes that fortunately do not overpower the story. Writer-director Mikko Makela takes a non-judgmental approach to deal with topics such as the creative process, the world of escorts, self-discovery and self-acceptance. The images and colours are beautiful. The city, with its anonymity and loneliness, is a character in its own right. I found the movie interesting. It shows a raw side of current gay sexuality and correctly portrays a young artist in search of both success and identity.

A queer writer and sex worker finds his own story and voice, hands-on.

"Sebastian" addresses issues such as shame, authenticity in fiction, consent and work-life balance with a gentle touch. The power asymmetry in sex work is shown with a simple plot device which is effective without being crude. The right of sex workers to tell their own story is stressed by the narrative structure itself until the climax in the very last scene which wraps it all up nicely.

Seen at HIFF, where it was very well received by the audience. The director told us his original inspiration from the London queer community while he studied there.

Max is a young aspiring writer in London, who does freelance work for a literary magazine, has had some short stories published, and is working on his 1st novel. He is inspired by some interviews with graduate students about being gay sex workers for money, but he is too conscious about possibly appropriating their voices, so he decides to go into the business himself, ignoring the irony of most 1st novels being autobiographical.

This he does under the name Sebastian, posting pictures online of his bare torso, but with his face obscured by his cellphone. He gets customers, and some call him back for more encounters. But his sex work starts interfering with his job at the magazine, while his publisher / editor is trying to shape the novel into a "marketable" story.

I do have a couple of minor quibbles about the script. While there are multiple sex scenes (with no cast members' members showing), they seem to be all straight-up penetration, No oral, no hand jobs, no spanking with a magazine or other kink. The other is the sequence where Sebastian is on an overnight assignment, has drunk too much, but still manages to sneak out of bed to immediately write down his activities, given that his research is for a work of "fiction", and inaccuracies / omissions / embellishments are fair game.

Having never heard a single word about this, I thought I was going to see something trashy and lo and behold, it turns out I ended up viewing a good movie! Go figure! But seriously, while this has some imperfections, the quality here came as a great surprise. The writing, direction, cinematography and particularly the acting all have merits of varying degrees. A film about a smart young writer, successful at short stories, who decides to write a novel about gay sex workers and then decides to become one himself for authenticity only to become somewhat addicted to it all to the point that it is getting in the way of his writing about it. He hasn't the time for both! Ruaridh Mollica, who I never heard of prior to this, is really very good. His extremely bold performance is subtle, brave and he never really misses a beat. He's a bit mesmerizing. It would be cool to see how he is in other films, but that might be tricky here in America. All of the other actors are strong, particularly Jonathan Hyde, the only actor in this who might be familiar to the general American public. While he is good, his character's relationship with our young writer is problematic and where the film stumbles a bit. Mollica responds to him in very contradictory ways that are confusing. This has nothing to do with the acting. It's either the writing and/or the directing that falters here. This is not a great film, but it's really interesting film, though it is not for prudes. There are many sex scenes and one in particular is very explicit. It also has a truly lovely ending.