Sebastian

Despite the film's confident naturalism, it seems less intimate as it goes on, with Max somehow growing more distant and generic as he becomes more comfortable in his own skin.

Synopsis: Max (Ruaridh Mollica) is a 25-year-old aspiring novelist, living in London and paying his dues working at a literary magazine. Frustrated by his own ambitions and the pressures to succeed, Max begins moonlighting as a sex worker with the pseudonym Sebastian, secretly meeting men via an escorting platform and using his experiences to fuel his stories. What begins as a few furtive meetings soon becomes a hidden nocturnal life, and the debut novel that he has been longing to write finally seems within reach. Finding himself more comfortable as Sebastian than expected, yet determined to keep his exploits a secret, Max increasingly struggles to remain in control of a delicately balanced double-life. As he confronts conflicting feelings of ecstasy, shame, and exhilarating liberation, Max has to reckon with whether Sebastian is merely a writer's tool to achieve first-hand authenticity -- or whether something more is at stake.

A queer writer and sex worker finds his own story and voice, hands-on.

"Sebastian" addresses issues such as shame, authenticity in fiction, consent and work-life balance with a gentle touch. The power asymmetry in sex work is shown with a simple plot device which is effective without being crude. The right of sex workers to tell their own story is stressed by the narrative structure itself until the climax in the very last scene which wraps it all up nicely.

Seen at HIFF, where it was very well received by the audience. The director told us his original inspiration from the London queer community while he studied there.

Having never heard a single word about this, I thought I was going to see something trashy and lo and behold, it turns out I ended up viewing a good movie! Go figure! But seriously, while this has some imperfections, the quality here came as a great surprise. The writing, direction, cinematography and particularly the acting all have merits of varying degrees. A film about a smart young writer, successful at short stories, who decides to write a novel about gay sex workers and then decides to become one himself for authenticity only to become somewhat addicted to it all to the point that it is getting in the way of his writing about it. He hasn't the time for both! Ruaridh Mollica, who I never heard of prior to this, is really very good. His extremely bold performance is subtle, brave and he never really misses a beat. He's a bit mesmerizing. It would be cool to see how he is in other films, but that might be tricky here in America. All of the other actors are strong, particularly Jonathan Hyde, the only actor in this who might be familiar to the general American public. While he is good, his character's relationship with our young writer is problematic and where the film stumbles a bit. Mollica responds to him in very contradictory ways that are confusing. This has nothing to do with the acting. It's either the writing and/or the directing that falters here. This is not a great film, but it's really interesting film, though it is not for prudes. There are many sex scenes and one in particular is very explicit. It also has a truly lovely ending.

The director and screenwriter of this film, Mikko Mäkelä, is only 35 years old, and this is not his first work; he has been making quality films in the industry for years.

The young actor Ruaridh Mollica, who delivers a very good performance in the lead role, is only 25 years old, and he has also been acting and writing in the industry for over a decade.

That such a profound film could come from two such young individuals... That's cinema, that's art.

"Sebastian," both the film and the character, is one of the most naive yet daring productions of 2024...

Sundance selections never disappoint.

Max is a 25-year-old aspiring writer living in London. Alongside his journalist job, he works on his first novel, centered on gay male prostitution. Max finds his inspiration in an original way: he recounts his own experiences as an escort, under the alias of Sebastian. He is embodied on screen by Ruaridh Mollica, a charming and talented actor. Ruaridh perfectly conveys the inner complexity of his character. He is in almost every shot, including the numerous and graphic sex scenes that fortunately do not overpower the story. Writer-director Mikko Makela takes a non-judgmental approach to deal with topics such as the creative process, the world of escorts, self-discovery and self-acceptance. The images and colours are beautiful. The city, with its anonymity and loneliness, is a character in its own right. I found the movie interesting. It shows a raw side of current gay sexuality and correctly portrays a young artist in search of both success and identity.