"Romantic love is bullsh*t and I'm not wasting anymore time chasing it!"
Vancouver International Film Festival
Starring Dan Beirne as an agreeable version of Brown joined by Emily Lê as the slightly fictionalized Lee stand-in, Sonny, a "MaxMusic" TV host, and Modern Whore author Andrea Werhun, a former sex worker herself playing one here, the earnest film casually eschews normative sexual conventions to explore healthy transactional companionship involving intimacy and intercourse.
Lee treats the material, partially based on her own life experiences, with reverence and respect, especially towards the sex workers involved. She fleshes them out as characters even those with limited screen time. There's a discomfort to how easily Beirne's Brown detaches himself from the intimate emotions of physical relations after his breakup before going on a sexual awakening of his own not dissimilar to Lee's similarly-themed debut film, Year of the Carnivore.
Paying for It certainly has some strong late-'90s Toronto alternative art scene and quirky indie movie vibes grounded by Berine and Lê's strong performances as friends and ex-lovers who respect each other's personal spaces and romantic boundaries. It's both refreshingly sweet and explicitly provocative about its depiction of sensual desires outside of traditionally accepted normative relationships.
Paying for It screens at the 2024 Vancouver International Film Festival as part of the Showcase series at the Rio Theatre on September 30th and Fifth Avenue Cinemas on October 1st.
More | YVArcade / Destination / CBC / Exclaim / Stir
0 reactions:
Post a Comment