PalCinema Review: Sebastian

An aspiring novelist dives deep into the world of sex work

August 15, 2024

FILM:  SEBASTIAN

DIRECTED BY:  MIKKO MAKELA

STARRING:  RUARIDH MOLLICA, HIFTU QUASEM, INGVAR SIGURDSSON

RATING:  3 ½ out of 4 stars

By Dan Pal

How much lived experience is necessary for writers to have when creating a story not directly related to their own lives?  That is one of the major themes of Sebastian the new film from writer/director Mikko Makela.  The primary character is Max who is an aspiring novelist working for a magazine in London.  He’s made a decision to write a story about sex workers.  In order to do so, he takes it upon himself to research the field by selling his body for money.  Max is 25 years old and has the chiseled features and slender but muscular body that easily attracts clientele, in this case mostly older men.  As he delves further into this world, Max becomes more consumed with the sex work than with his own writing.  Is it the sex that’s more important than the writing?  Is he really just doing this for his art or is he looking for something more?  The “Sebastian” of the title is actually Max’s alter ego that sets out on this journey.  It also becomes the name of the book he is trying to get published.

As a film experience, Sebastian is full of graphic sex scenes that spare little to the imagination.  We see the character in a variety of positions with many different men while trying to explain to his publisher that he has been “researching” and interviewing sex workers.  Max can’t quite admit to what he himself is gaining from his encounters.  At his low points, he contacts his mum to provide a sense of stability and warmth to contrast the cold acts in which he finds himself.  There is thus a degree of shame that Max feels for delving into a world that is satisfying him in a way he perhaps never envisioned.  Lead actor Ruaridh Mollica beautifully captures this dichotomy.  He is at once naïve while also deeply curious. 

Most of what is shown here is pretty tasteful although not for those who might find certain sex acts depicted on screen a bit too gratuitous.   It is the reality of Max’s world though so it would be hard to illustrate what he is experiencing without actually showing it.  What becomes most interesting is how the character evolves.  Since most of his clientele is significantly older than he is, their sexual tastes run the gamut from aggressive to emotionally appreciative of this young beauty of a man.  He eventually meets a client named Jonathan who is deeper than the others.  He is literary-minded and takes Max to places where sex is not the number one priority.  I found this twist refreshing.  It suggests a character that wants more than quick encounters to pay off his living expenses while doing his own writing.  Sex is usually the focus of many such gay stories but Makela is going for something more here:  a fully rounded character with a variety of evolving ambitions and desires.

Sebastian is not a film for everyone but it is a rich character study that also explores the world of a writer trying to find himself in his own writings.

Sebastian premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January.  It is currently playing in limited theatrical release before it’s streaming premiere on October 1^st.

For the archive of PalCinema reviews click here.