Young People Fucking

With its provocative title and the general controversy surrounding it thanks to Bill C-10, director Martin Gero's debut film "Young People F-cking" has gotten a far wider release in Canada than most films of this sort do, getting the chance to compete with the likes of "The Incredible Hulk" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" in 2008's summer season. I can't think of a film more deserving.

"Young People F-cking" is honest, real, unpretentious, sad, and funny all at the same time. Its script is one of the best I've come across in quite a while, using a unique narrative which takes the 'six phases of sex': prelude, foreplay, sex, interlude, orgasm, and afterglow- in that order, and applies them to five different couples (well... four couples and a threesome). The film progresses through the six phases in order, cutting back and forth between the five couples, 'Friends', 'Couple', 'Exes', 'Roommates', and 'First Date', and observing their interaction with each other.

These stories vary in quality but even the weakest; the Roommates story, is involving and fun as long as you remember that while Gord is exaggerated, there ARE many guys like him around. Martin Gero and Aaron Abrams are smart enough not to play all of the stories for laughs, with the 'Exes' story maintaining a wistful, slightly sad tone albeit one punctuated by humor. The 'Friends' portion of the script is also remarkably true-to-life and the only one other than the 'First Date' story that I could personally relate to. My favorite story within this film was the 'First Date' portion starring Callum Blue and Diora Baird; it's hilarious, insightful, and never boring in the slighest.

Providing superb drama, good comedy, and some of the best and most entertaining observations on sex outside a Woody Allen offering, "Young People F-cking" is THE movie about sex for anyone in their twenties or thirties right now. I can't promise that the film would maintain its best strengths for those who can't relate to the events on screen. I expect that people over forty or so will enjoy the film less than younger people because after all even the politics of sex change, just like everything else.

Fresh, unique, relevant, and beautifully photographed and directed, "Young People F-cking" is unquestionably going to end up as one of the best films of 2008. It is just phenomenal.

8.75/10

Excellent movie in my opinion. It manages to do a real cross-section of these days' sex-life (because, keep in mind, this is the sex-life of today that we are talking about), being at the same time funny, warm an exciting. The writers and director obviously got to some point the idea that this is going to work only if, as Shakespeare said, to their own selves they would be true. Hence the result. Hell, it's a masterpiece itself the fact that they make a movie that contains in the title, about and featuring f@#king and still the end result is not a porno, but something so deeply human and true as this movie. Being in some of these situations myself at one point or another in life, I can guarantee for the accuracy of the situations depicted :) 9/10

Director Martin Guero knows that the title of his first film, YOUNG PEOPLE F#@KING, is brash enough to grab anyone's attention. It could be misconstrued as a title meant to entice lonely, older men to weekend matinees but in an effort to dissuade these "gentlemen", I will tell you the people in question here aren't that young. These particular people are all in their mid to late 20's, all relatively white and all essentially straight. This does not bode well for this self-professed modern exploration of what it means to be a player in their prime in today's supposedly kinky sexual playing field. Still, you can feel Guero smiling from behind the camera, content with himself for telling it like it is. Only Guero's idea of today's sexual experience is so steeped in convention that it is anything but provocative.

To make his film even less reverent, Guero divides his young people into perfectly constructed boxes. These particular groupings are so well established in the public's vernacular that Guero doesn't need to spend any time establishing any actual history in his characters. Who has time for the human touch though when you're talking about humans touching? A couple, two friends, two exes, two people on their first date and two roommates all find themselves in the throws of passion, or at least the throws of pastime, on one very busy night in one undisclosed city. Now, I'm warning you. The following may be too shocking to handle. The couple, well they have gotten bored with their sex life and now barely have any sex at all. The people on their first date are saying a bunch of things just to get into each other's pants. Even the friends are hesitant that if they were to have sex, it might somehow change the friendship they have relied on platonically for years. By reducing his characters to such tired clichés, Guero has crafted a hollow exploration of caricature rather than an actual character study.

Who knew that sex could have such a giant impact on people and relationships? Oh, right, everyone knew that already. Sex is the ultimate complicating factor and the definitive line that only occasionally warrants crossing. Should friends cross it? Should exes? How about strangers? No matter who you are, both alone and together, before you cross it, you will be changed once you do, no matter how many lies you tell yourself to con your mind into making a supposedly sound decision. You take that step, leave the planet for a while if you're lucky and land on your feet if you're even luckier still, a changed person for having taken the risk. Simply put, sex is big. YOUNG PEOPLE F@#KING however, is nowhere near as monumental as that and you'll forget it by the time the condom is off.

I actually really liked 'YPF' and despite its title, I'm sure it would've been more mainstream. Though, not perfect, it was somewhat original in its story telling of 5 couples and the different degrees/steps of making love (to put it nicely.) A lot of the stories were hilarious and I especially liked the married couple and definitely the kinky roommate threesome. The other three were interesting enough, and I did like the outcome of the Eric Bana-type's fate, but I liked it most when it strolled back to the married couple's discovery of boredom and how to overcome and a jerky roommate's desire to please his girlfriend while watching his very well endowed roommate bed her. In one night, in one "could happen anywhere" city, the story jumps between different scenarios while labeling the basic levels of sexual activity. The five are: a playboy and the new office girl, ex's reconnecting, a drained married couple, two roommates and a girl and, finally, best friends trying to take it to the next level. The movie is filled with complete eye candy, for both males and females. I should say, more accurately, all the females are stunning and as for the males, they really show diversity: from geeks to studs. While it only revolves around Caucasians, and homosexuals are left out, there's a little bit for everyone. And I say homosexuals are left out, as in no one's gay, but the roommate situation borderlines it. That is probably why I liked that story the best as they didn't just throw in the token gay couple, but they put people very open and not afraid of what society says they should be. Some of the writing and acting seems forced, for the most part it was entertaining, surprising and downright hilarious at times.

I saw this film at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.

The first feature film from director/co-writer Martin Gero and actor/co-writer Aaron Abrams, Young People F--- (censored since IMDb won't let me put the actual word in) is exactly as the title implies, with five completely unrelated story lines about people having sex. There is the ex-boyfriend and girlfriend, reuniting for an evening out just as friends; the best friends who see each other as a convenient way to relieve their pent up lust without having to turn to some random, poorly chosen pickup; the couple, whose love life in the bedroom has lost its spark; the first date, with a player trying to get lucky with a woman he just met; and the roommates, one of who tries to draw the other into a threesome with his girlfriend. The characters run the gamut of emotions; some are insecure, some are over-confident; some have baggage in their relationship, some want to be intimate, and others just want to screw. Intercut amongst one another, each story proceeds from a prelude through to foreplay, to the act itself, to an interlude, and finally down to the climax and its denouement. In the end, the stories are full of both beginnings and endings for all of the characters.

The film definitely lives up to its title, but in a humorous, warm, and personal way. While there's stuff there that might make your grandmother blush, don't go in thinking you're going to get some sort of hard-core film or some generic teen sex comedy. It was easy to warm up to the characters and get a sense of their history and who they are without a lot of obvious exposition. The actors were good across the board, although Josh Dean's character was a bit too nerdly earnest for my taste. While you may not leave with any great, deep universal truths answered, the film got a lot of laughs and was enjoyable throughout, and hopefully it won't suffer for its title once it gets released.