Sebastian (2024) User Reviews

Strange concept for modern queer cinema

[chenp-54708 · 6/10 · 28 January 2024]

Watched this at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

"Sebastian" is a strange movie as the concept about a queer writer living a double life as a sex worker is pretty bizarre, yet, an interesting concept. This movie has left me with some mixed feelings as I find the movie to have some really strong moments but some not so strong.

Finnish-British Filmmaker Mikko Makela direction and writing for this story is pretty good as Makela's approach on the themes and characters are strong. Queer cinema hasn't been approached with this form of atmosphere and it was interesting to see Makela taking a new approach on queer cinema with good performances from the cast members, interesting conversations, and challenging aspects on the setting, tone, and character. The production design is good and camerawork was solid.

The dialogue is interesting as there are some really great dialogue moments but at the same time, some of the dialogue felt clunky and weird. Whether it was intentional or not, it feels a little off-putting. The characters have some investment but as the movie continues, the main character becomes a little difficult to fully connect with and it does cause the movie to feel a little of a drag.

The third act does fall apart a little as it feels unsatisfying to the climax. But despite it's flaws, I still found myself interested to see what happens next and I am glad I saw it. As much I wasn't very big on it, I applaud for the new take.

A daring semi-meta film about gay sex workers

[chong_an · 9/10 · 9 June 2024]

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.