I Am a Sex Addict

I saw this film at the Tribeca Film Festival and loved every minute of it. The film chronicles the director Caveh Zahedi's own proclivity for prostitutes and how this "addiction" ruined two marriages and numerous relationships. When he meets his match in Deven, played superbly by an actress I have never seen before, the film moves from hilarious to deeply moving. Deven has addictions of her own, and suddenly Caveh is confronted with a mirror of his insensitivity to others. What seems like a film that might only appeal to a male audience, turns out out to be fascinating and touching for women too. Zahedi's policy of complete honesty may have tortured many of his ex's but it puts us, the audience, in the cat-bird seat. This film has great potential for reaching a mass audience in my opinion.

I am a sex addict is not another stupid comedy as one might suppose while looking at the tittle. It makes an attempt to be a smart film on very important subject, that is sex addiction. The movie succeeds in this respect and even at some points resembles more drama than comedy. Although I approve of extremely personal films with wise message and dealing with difficult, taboo subjects, I regrettably cannot write that I am a sex addict is a good or bad film. In fact, it's a mixed bag and wasted potential for me. Caveh Zahedi tells the story about himself without embelishment and sentimentalism, which requires a great bravery and distance. Nonetheless, the picture is very uneven. It starts very well, but then it 's worse and worse. The flick becomes wordy and lengthy. What is the biggest vice is a first-person narration which is repetitive and to a large degree irrelevant. Zahedi also appears too frequently (he's present in every scene). The superior moments are when Zahedi plays with form in order to entertain viewers. The ending is satisfactory, but it's too late to save this average movie.

This film chronicles director Zahedi's addiction to prostitutes over the course of many, many years, and presents an honest and realistic portrait of sexual compulsions and fetishes. Of interest as well are Zahedi's attempts to reconcile his oft violent sexual fantasies with his various attempts at healthy relationships. One has to wonder how true to life Zahedi's portraits of his relationships are, except maybe for his final relationship, but they make for an interesting depiction of dysfunctional and atypical 'romantic' relationships either way.

The film's humor genuinely works. As many moving, sad, and let's be honest- pathetic moments there clearly were in Zahedi's life, he is able to portray them in a humorous self-deprecating light, which is testament to his talent as a filmmaker, because these events could very easily have made one of the most disturbing and real pure dramas put on film, but Zahedi's Allen-like psychological self-obsession comes across as endearing and funny. That's not to say the film's more dramatic moments, such as its beautiful, understated, ending don't work, because they do, but the film's quality is increased by the humorous content

The film is obviously low-budget and essentially a mockumentary, so don't look for any great moments of technical film-making, but Zahedi is no bore and certainly a solid directo who knows how to pace a film. A lot of people have a problem with Zahedi's behavior towards women, but it appears that by the end of the film he is happy and content in a healthy relationship.

Caveh Zahedi's "I Am a Sex Addict" is far from a perfect film, but it's honest, entertaining, unique, well-made, and worth your time.

8/10

Director of this film is Caveh Zahedi and he also plays the lead role in this semi-documentary style film. It assume it's based on a true story about a man named Caveh Zahedi who is a sex addict and is struggling to stay loyal to one woman while showing his sexual history. Now I can understand people that don't believe in marriage, but Caveh just tries way too hard to show that he is a nice guy with morals, I guess his own morals. In another words this is a very self indulgent film, which actually hurts the product overall. The narration and re-telling the stories was actually well done though and even if the director that was also playing the lead role is self indulgent while making and acting in the movie, he seemed to be very honest as well, just not that honest with himself. I think Caveh's main problem was or is, more than being a sex addict is that he just can't keep his temptations in his head. He just needs to spout it all out in front of his girlfriends while annoying the heck out of them while looking really creepy looking. I also didn't have any sympathy towards Caveh if that was intentional or not and he just came off as a bit of a egomaniac, despite his flaws he just seemed a bit way too desperate to be liked and accepted. The movie goes through these 12 step program until he finds his true happiness in life. So yes this is a self indulgent film, but it's also a fascinating psychological study. To be honest when I saw the cover for this movie, I thought it would go on a more serious direction, but I am glad it went the more comedic direction. And although some may say this film is repetitive, I didn't really have a problem with that, because it just made the movie more realistic. Even if a lot of what happens aren't clearly explained, like how Caveh made a drastic change just by going to Sex Addicts Anonymous meetings. It is a interesting semi-documentary in which most scenes are recreated.

6.6/10

Caveh, the director and lead actor of the film has a rather interesting problem; he is addicted to sex with prostitutes. The film is comprised of narrations re-telling the stories of his failed attempts to stop his addiction and the relationships that are destroyed as a result. Mixed in the narration is interview footage of Caveh just before his wedding (his third), where he narrates his struggle. He eventually finds recovery in a 12-step program, and finds a level of happiness.

At the U.S. premiere at the Tribeca Film festival, he revealed that the vast majority of these very personal and embarrassing stories were true. Also, his wife was in the audience and he reports that after 7 years his relationship is strong.

As for the film, it's actually very funny, as Caveh is able to present dysfunctional scenarios in a self-defacing and humorous light. It's a shame that a movie like this will probably never get distributed world-wide, but if you see it at a film festival, go see it. Highly recommended.