The well-trod tropes of the gifted young writer caught transcribing rather than transforming friends, relatives & personal experiences as source material, gets the New Queer Cinema treatment in this London-set film from Finnish writer/director Mikko Mäkelä. Ruaridh Mollica is Max, a standout college writer earning awards & publishing opportunities for his graphic tales of the city, mostly about gay sex-worker Sebastian. Sebastian no creation, but Max’s pseudonym when turning tricks for cash and literary inspiration. But is the line dissolving between these two? Caught up in a reckless world of paid pleasure, Max is losing his grip, missing class, assignments and blowing off interviews for the school’s respected magazine. But a rather elegant, elderly client, seemingly his least appropriate, will shake him up in emotional/intellectual ways, just as he’s starting to fall apart. With an excellent cast and London’s gay demi-monde nightlife believably caught, the action doesn’t always move in ways you expect. A shame the film loses a step in the second half with Mäkelä hanging fire when he tries to reflect the wary caution Max lives with. On the other hand, it’s nice to avoid one of those tragic endings you typically get on a queer Pilgrim’s Progress, instead recognizing the oneness of Max/Sebastian.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: See what’s changed in seven decades of gay themes on college campus life with TEA AND SYMPATHY/’56. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2013/02/tea-and-sympathy-1956.html
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