E
arly on in gloriously gay character study Sebastian, a slim, hairless twentysomething named Max (who is, for want of a more modern term, a twink) vigorously fucks an older, larger, hairier man (because the perfect word exists, a bear). Later, the budding sex worker, played with wild abandon by 25-year-old ItalianScottish actor Ruaridh Mollica, charms a genteel client played by Jonathan Hyde. The 76-year-old acting veteran is as grandly handsome as he was in the 90s (you may recognise him from blockbusters such as Titanic and Jumanji), but his coarse, slackened skin nevertheless stands in stark contrast to Mollica’s luminous complexion as they kiss. Watching these scenes, a distinct thought crossed my mind: ‘I’ve never seen this before. Not even in porn.’ Is culture — even gay culture, even porn — considerably less sex-positive than we realise? Thus, Finnish filmmaker Mikko Mäkelä’s film effortlessly achieves its presumed mission: to prompt new, shame-stripping conversations about sex.
“Sex is something that happens all the time, pretty much everyone does it — and yet it’s so little talked about,” highlights Mollica, chatting to me by phone ahead of the film’s UK release. “Unless it’s in a close friend group. It seems mad. You talk about work all the time. You talk about what you did at the weekend all the time. But you won’t say: ‘Oh yeah, I shagged on the weekend!’ You know what I mean?