来自网友【他他】的评论Title: Gerontophilia Year: 2013Genre: Comedy, RomanceCountry: CanadaLanguage: English, FrenchDirector: Bruce LaBruceScreenwriters: Bruce LaBruce, Daniel Allen CoxMusic: Ramachandra BorcarCinematography: Nicolas CanniccioniEditor: Glenn BermanCastPier-Gabriel LajoieWalter BordenKatie BolandYardly KavanaghMarie-Hélène ThibaultBrian D. WrightShawn CampbellJean-Alexandre LétourneauAdam CaprioloLouis NeginRating: 5.2/10Title: Sebastian Year: 2024Genre: DramaCountry: UK, Finland, BelgiumLanguage: English, FrenchDirector/Screenwriter: Mikko MäkeläMusic: Ilari HeiniläCinematography: Iikka SalminenEditors: Mikko Mäkelä, Arttu SalmiCast:Ruaridh MollicaHiftu QuasemJonathan HydeLeanne BestLara RossiIngvar SigurdssonDylan BradyStella GonetPedro MinasAkbar KurthaLaurent MariaTom ViaeneOrlando NormanDavid NellistRating: 7.3/10Canadian underground queer filmmaker Bruce LaBruce is a maverick with a notorious reputation as his blatant transgressions are preponderantly predicated on his porno-akin provocations often aspersed to mask as audacity. In this regard, GERONTOPHILIA might be an exception. Tackling the sexual taboo of a young boy's unaccountable lust towards senile men, the film is considerably less graphic than his other films since LaBruce is obviously not the one who is capable of aestheticizing the saggy skin, liver spots and deep furrows.Lake (an angelically anaemic Lajoie) is an 18-year-old Canadian college student, habitually necking with his girlfriend Désirée (Boland), who is a self-claimed revolutionary prone to bragging about her “list” of candidates with whom she would like go sapphic, which is nothing but a load of mildly maddening hot air. Lake finds a cushy job in a retirement home and instantly takes to Mr. Peabody (an incurious and unflappable Borden), a white-haired, black gay grandpa who has a mischievously gentlemanlike persona, if not heavily sedated under the medication. Lake's awakening to his kinks and his subsequent reconciliation with Désirée are handled with a frivolous touch that is devoid of any weight or emotional stake. The film changes its lane while Lake sneaks Mr. Peabody out of the home and drives him to see the Pacific ocean one more time. There is an awkward moment of jealousy when Mr. Peabody is approached by another youngster in a bar, just to prompt Lake to momentarily shed off his peaceable blandness and the morning after, admit his true feelings for Mr. Peabody. The dry irony is that the latter might not be alive to hear that. Basking in a gelid and frigid hue and clinical surroundings, hogtied by a merely serviceable cast, GERONTOPHILIA seems inert, stilted and uninvolved in its own thematics, the only grace note is its nonchalant attitude covering a multitude of inconsequences under the banner of its nominal perversity. Finnish-British filmmaker Mikko Mäkelä’s sophomore feature SEBASTIAN also delves into a young man’s erotic experiences with older males. Max (Mollica), a 25-year-old up-and-coming Scottish writer in London, furtively moonlights as an escort, choosing the name Sebastian, on the pretext of garnering inspos for his debut novel about sex workers in the megalopolis. The peculiar whiff of coming to terms with one’s own kinks transfuses throughout the entire film. Max prefers a covert date with his clients to hang out and make out with his hormone-driven coevals. He is willing to explore his sexuality with different types of guys, whether a soft-spoken blimp (Nellist), a Nordic gruff daddy (Sigurdsson), or a demisexual literature professor (Hyde), he doesn’t discriminate. A group sex is a horizon-widening experience which he doesn’t linger on. Like his budding, rudderless writing career, Max also seeks a private anchorage in a vast city by way of carefully selected rendezvous and unfeigned carnal knowledge. Each encounter is a secret behavioral and psychological study on both his client and himself. Max is a pleaser, he plunges into the action with verve and sincerity, each thrust or moaning feels authentic, each kiss is catalyzed with affection. Mollica incarnates the Max/Sebastian dyad with a limpid self-awareness that becomes very relatable under the urban, online dating context. He cannot even come clean to Amna (Quasem), his best friend who is also queer, about his exploitative side hustle. Max’s closet is not homosexuality but deception and the shame of prostitution, that social prejudice still dams up his full acceptance of his sexuality (Stella Gonet's cameo as his mother palpably hints the distancing strain that sours the mother-son bond). SEBASTIAN shatters the hidebound preconception of the vulgarity and immorality of prostitution. For Max, selling his body is a material way to discover himself and establish genuine connections, monetary gain is secondary (granted that the high cost of living in London doesn’t make that easier). However, Max cannot have the cake and eat it too. When the two apparently discrete circles threaten to collide, his panic button rings off, and Mollica is at his most compelling with the onslaught of Freudian trepidation, excitement and discombobulation. His handsomeness is achingly reflected through the inner turmoil that lays bare Max’s vulnerability in navigating a double life precariously on his own terms. Max’s propensity of older men leans more towards sapiosexual than libidinous. Moreover, it seems what appeals to him is a basic human kindness that one cannot take for granted in such transactional arrangements. Mäkelä's film knocks out of the park a touching affirmation about a quest of one's own desire in all frankness and earnestness whereas Mollica, resembling the alias Max chooses for himself, whose martyr-like gorgeousness and crackerjack bent for telegraphing are his calling cards, is another supernova destined to shine on the screen. referential entries: Ira Sachs’ THE DELTA (1996, 6.4/10); Sebastián Silva's ROTTING IN THE SUN (2023, 7.4/10); Marco Berger's THE BLONDE ONE (2019, 7.3/10).
