Director: Gregg Araki
Writers: Gregg Araki, Karley Sciortino
Stars: Olivia Wilde, Cooper Hoffman, Johnny Knoxville
Synopsis: Elliot lands a job for Erika Tracy as her sexual muse.
We live in a cinematic wasteland when it comes to sex. There are, of course, any number of exceptions to this rule. But when it comes to films, especially those with recognizable faces, there is a puritanical streak that has lasted far too long. Enter Gregg Araki, or reenter we should say. Missing from the cinema landscape since 2014’s White Bird in a Blizzard, those in the know will recognize that his oeuvre, among other topics, has never been shy about sexuality. Araki was an important part of the New Queer Cinema movement in the early 1990s and his Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy (Totally F***ed Up, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere) should be required viewing for every cinephile with an eye for diverse talent. So who better to push the envelope (for normies) with straight sex onscreen?
I Want Your Sex is, at heart, a simple story, but one with complex relationships. Araki, never concerned with realism or grounding, is able to bring us on this journey, while making us both laugh and think about our place in the world, at any age. It follows Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) in his quest for some kind of path in life. That is, after the film opens in media res, with him dressed in pink lingerie, his face bleeding, as he dashes to the aid of a near dead, Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde), who is floating face-down in a pool. Araki has always had a talent for setting stakes, and also making us snicker at the plight of his “heroes.”
Moving backwards in time, we see Elliot nervous about his job interview with Erika, who is a famous artist, discussing it with his best friend, Apple (Chase Sui Wonders) and his seemingly always busy and annoyed girlfriend, Minerva (Charli XCX). Both of these women play their parts well, especially Charli XCX who delivers a perfect monotone, keeping him at a distance. However, once his interview begins (after being forced to wait for hours), the film has a sexually charged energy that is unmatched. Wilde, playing Erika to the absolute hilt, is the perfect foil for poor, hapless, soft Elliot. The roles in their relationship are apparent even before anything explicit occurs. Additionally, Elliot’s interactions as an employee provide laughs at every turn. Of note, his friendship with Zap (Mason Gooding) is endearing, while also discussing explicit topics (all while adhering chewed pink bubble gum to an artistic rendering of a vulva). It is no surprise that Araki is comparing the young straight man who barely has any sex with the young gay man who has nothing but sexual experience. They also adhere to different aesthetic codes, Elliot perfectly comfortable in his softer body, while Zap revels in his own, harder more defined frame. It is also not just by chance that the title of the film is taken from a George Michael song, a popstar who eventually came out as gay but was on the bedroom wall of many a teenage girl.
Araki also has a gift of using just enough fantasy in his imagery. It serves to shock the audience out of their standard viewing experience, as well as give insight into Elliot. When his girlfriend says she is too busy for sex and playacts what she thinks he wants, the appearance of cartoon breasts shaking in front of his face as she talks, is a perfect encapsulation of the 20-something male mind. Later, when Elliot is struggling emotionally, the image of him literally sinking into his bed removes the need for endless discussion of his mental state. The boundless color, the excessive costumes, the gaudy artwork, all of it serves to set the scene to completely overwhelm Elliot, a mirror image to his burgeoning sexual relationship as Erika’s submissive.
But truly, this movie is about Elliot and Erika, and it is about sex. As a culture, when we become more prudish about sex, we lose something. Not just pleasure, but also experience and connection. Araki puts these lines in the mouth of Wilde, and she delivers them with gusto, even if, by her later behavior, it becomes difficult to believe her implicitly. However, most importantly, we understand why Elliot would upend his life for her. It is not simply that she is attractive, it is a perfect fit of personality as well. Despite the fact that the script, from Araki and Sciortino, is a rapid fire attack, there are enough moments of hesitation and silence to make us feel the heat between the two of them. As she pushes him further along this path, we even see it affect his romantic relationship with Minerva and his friendship with Apple. One mild fault of the movie is a lack of closure with some of these damaged relationships. But on the other hand, life sometimes does not offer what we most desire.
The sex. The sex in this film is never gratuitous and almost always fun. Watching Wilde, completely sure of herself, guiding Hoffman into a world that pushes those boundaries rides a perfect line between pure fun and honestly sexy back-and-forth. Hoffman, for his part, is not only an everyman, but seems just inexperienced enough to be guided by her. He has had sex, he desires sex, but he has never been fulfilled and pushed, never like this. And all of it has a point! The sex is necessary and brings us into a world of imperfection, power exchange, and even danger. Given that, it would be easy, given where the film begins, to assume that this is a story that is meant to teach a lesson, which frankly would be deeply boring.
Araki is many things, but he is never boring. His thesis seems to be that we can never judge, as sex and relationships change us. And there are certain people that are with us forever. They can be good, bad, or somewhere in the middle. But our physical connection in those moments can never be ignored, the marks left on us make us exactly who we are. I Want Your Sex is a funny, sexy, and shot across the bow at those who would limit our sexual expression and the ways in which we explore. Finally, cinema has a breath of fresh air in a cruel reality.
