The Movie: We are presented with the intertwining of five different sexual encounters between eleven different people. In The Best Friends; Matt (Aaron Abrams, also the co-writer and executive producer of this film) and Kristen (Carly Pope of Orange County and Nemesis Game), two long time friends, attempt to take the awkward step to friends with benefits. The Couple presents us with Andrew (Josh Dean) and Abby (Kristin Booth); a married, long-time couple who have hit a slump in their sex life. In an attempt to start it up again, they try something very unconventional. The Exes gives us Mia (Sonja Bennett of Fido) and Eric (Josh Cooke); a former couple who meet up for what is probably an ill-advised date and sexual encounter. With The First Date we have Ken (Callum Blue of the T.V. show Dead Like Me), the office Don Juan, seducing his newest conquest, Jamie (Diora Baird of the Night of the Demons remake). However, the encounter doesn’t go at all as he expects it to. Finally, in The Roommates, longtime roommates Gord (Ennis Esmer) and Dave (Peter Oldring) have a strained relationship, almost to the point of antagonism. Gord is just about to move in with his girlfriend, Inez (Natalie Lisinska). However, there is a new twist in Gord and Dave’s relationship when Gord asks Dave to have sex with Inez. Let the games begin.
The Review: Young People Fucking; sounds like the title for a barely legal porno, doesn’t it? However, that is not the case at all for this movie. For one thing, YPF pretty much fails at being erotica; especially if you have access to the real thing. While it does address sex far more directly and bluntly than most mainstream movies, there is still a tendency to use many of the techniques many mainstream films use to tone down sex; sex while clothed, camera angles that block out the action, etc. In fact, I found at least one or two sex scenes that I thought would have been more convincing if they’d been a little more graphic.
However, this isn’t a drawback at all, because YPF is very obviously not meant as exploitation or erotica. Instead, the movie is a rather unconventional character study. As I’ve mentioned before (if it’s not obvious enough from looking at the general structure of my reviews), characters are one of my favorite parts of any story. I love good characters and good character interactions. What’s more, although not too surprising when you think about it, in recent years I’ve been finding that I really loves me a good character study.
The setup of the movie is very cleverly done. First we are presented with each of our relationships. The early introductions are rather sparse; we are only given a basic label for the basic relationship (i.e. The Best Friends) and just enough dialogue to give us an idea for the setup. Sometimes we’re not even given the characters’ names immediately. The actual sex is used as a basic framing device, the movie divided into six chapters: Prelude, Foreplay, Sex, Interlude, Orgasm and Afterglow. At each chapter we learn a little bit more about the characters, their initial relationship prior to the sexual encounter, and where said relationship will be headed at the end of the encounter.
Due to script, cast and blocking, the end result comes out very well. While a few of the cast may skew a bit toward Hollywood pretty, overall they come across as real and believable characters. As for the script, none of these sexual episodes are played for either fantasy or dramatic plot device. The interactions, the relationships and the people are all something the majority of us are familiar with in our own lives.
Of course, this can be uncomfortable sometimes. While YPF is at its core a character study, at a secondary level it also works as a comedy. The thing is though; this isn’t the brainless, sleazy raunch of your typical sex comedy. The humor of this film centers around the absurdity of the characters’ situations and behavior, but it’s a very realistic absurdity. This isn’t the improbable, outrageous laugh you find in a genre comedy; this is the familiar laughter triggered by all the ridiculous things you encounter in your everyday life. There was so much going on here that I have seen and/or experienced for myself, which just made it all the funnier.
Finally, there are the characters themselves. As I stated before, the characters we are initially presented with are essentially ciphers at the beginning. We are given basic archetypes; the two best friends who turn to each other after a series of disastrous relationships, the office Don Juan and his latest innocent conquest, etc.; so we have a general idea of where things will probably go, but we are given almost nothing in the way of details. We get the details as the movie goes on; these basic skeletons we start with getting a little bit more fleshed out before our eyes. By the end of the movie, what started out as ciphers we finally know and understand as full human beings. In most cases the final outcome isn’t too much of a surprise, but there are a few genuinely clever reversals as well.
I really can’t think of too much else to say about the movie without spoiling it, as a very large part of the fun is the gradual discovery as you go of what’s really going on. So I’ll just end it on this note. Young People Fucking, despite what it might seem by its title, is neither sexploitative erotica nor a raunchy, brainless sex comedy. If you are after either of those things, then turn around right now because you will be very disappointed. However, if either an absurdly funny yet honest look at human relationships, or an unconventional yet ultimately fascinating example of a character study appeals to you, then you have come to the right place.
No comments:
Post a Comment