Review: A gay writer gets risky to supercharge his stalled literary career in ‘Sebastian’

Ruaridh Mollica in the movie “Sebastian.” The impulse to write what you know can be as emboldening as it can be restricting. In director Mikko Mäkelä’s soulful and observant feature “Sebastian,” a young writer grappling with this familiar conundrum begins creating a life for himself designed exclusively to be plundered for his fictional aspirations. In the process he’s forced to reckon with the porous lines he’s drawn between fact and fiction; between who he is and who he’s written himself into becoming. Born in Edinburgh and making a living in London as a freelance writer, Max (a magnetic Ruaridh Mollica) is aching for more. He’s sick of submitting short stories he’s not too proud of, sick of composing reviews of other people’s work. Like many an ambitious 20-something before him, he feels he’s not doing enough, let alone fast enough. Bret Easton Ellis , whom he’s researching ahead of an interview, published his first novel when he was 21. As a ploy to infuse his writing with a sense of kindled urgency, Max has begun moonlighting as an escort for older men. After every encounter he orchestrates as shy, wily “Sebastian,” he dutifully sits down at his desk to add yet another chapter to his work-in-progress novel: a story about an unabashedly confident sex worker called Sebastian. Movies Sundance 2024: Will Ferrell, Kristen Stewart, Lionel Richie and more in L.A. Times Studios Jan. 21, 2024 The nested-doll structure of Mäkelä’s film speaks to the writer-director’s fascination with the pleasures and perils of autofiction. Max tells himself he’s only partaking in sex work in order to flesh out the ideas he has for his novel. Yet he often feels out of sorts during those moments of sexual intimacy. Shot in tight, tangled closeups and medium shots where hungered flesh and lustful moans overwhelm character and viewer alike, those sex scenes prove to be quite moving, in turn. Advertisement Max’s performance on the page, as well as in the sheets, proves endlessly seductive: “You’ve got that wholesome boy-next-door thing going on,” a fellow escort coyly tells him, a flirtation that doubles […]

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