Gregg Araki’s Unapologetically Randy Rom-Com

Sure, the satan wears Prada, however what does an aggressive up to date artist put on to work? How about a see-through gown and stiletto heels? Kinky costumes are just a fraction of the enjoyable in Gregg Araki’s “I Want Your Sex,” which stars Olivia Wilde as Erika Tracy, the most domineering film boss since James Spader in “Secretary” (the last BDSM-themed office comedy to premiere at Sundance). Cooper Hoffman performs her all-too-eager subordinate in a movie that’s absolutely liberated the place intercourse and nudity are involved, however type of old school in the case of the interpersonal dynamics between its lusty leads.

Surprisingly sufficient, “I Want Your Sex” shares an honest quantity of widespread floor with screwball classics like “The Shop Around the Corner” and “His Girl Friday” — not that anybody in the goal demographic might be making the connection. For Araki, who most lately tried remixing acquainted themes for a new technology with “Now Apocalypse,” this unconventional rom-com seems like a pure extension of the queer indie pioneer’s sex-positive sensibility, even as he steers issues into novel territory.

Infinitely less punk that his early work, though still edgier than almost every thing else out there, “I Want Your Sex” represents a honest try by Araki to attach with the children, whose relationship to intercourse couldn’t be more complicated to a baby of the ’60s: Whereas Araki is a baby of the Swinging ’60s, the neuter-minded viewers for this film grew up overexposed to porn and insecure about intimacy, however comparatively thoughtful in the case of consent. That’s why Hoffman’s Elliot appears so thrilled to search out himself at Erika’s service: When she’s in cost, “I don’t have to make any decisions,” he beams, more than completely happy to relinquish management. But even that freedom can go too far.

As the film opens, Elliot stumbles out of Erika’s posh mansion in a blood-splattered pink bra and panties, only to find his boss floating face down in the pool. Cut to a police interrogation room, the place a straight-faced Margaret Cho and Johnny Knoxville grill Elliot about what occurred. “9 1/2 weeks earlier,” reads the fluorescent pink caption (Araki is second only to Almodóvar in the case of ultra-saturated shade schemes), winking at ’80s cine-kinkster Adrian Lyne.

Most erotic motion pictures include a component of hazard, and though this one begins off with Elliot under suspicion for Erika’s dying, Araki can’t resist leaning into the comedy — and why not? Sex ought to be joyful, and even when there’s degradation and pain play concerned (pig masks and ball gags, handcuffs and sharp heels), he clearly thinks it’s more enjoyable to snicker alongside the members than to go down no matter darkish black rabbit gap administrators like David Cronenberg and the Wachowskis do with their leather-based and latex.

Araki motion pictures are color-coded like sweet, and “I Want Your Sex” isn’t any exception, particularly in the case of Erika’s artwork studio, the place Elliot is employed as one in every of her assistants. They’re the grunts who paint the papier-mâché phalluses and chew gum all day, sticking the brilliant pink wads to a labia-shaped canvas. “Contemporary art is a scam,” opines Erika. “The real art is convincing people you’re making something meaningful.” With those phrases, Araki could possibly be criticizing fellow queer director Bruce La Bruce, who has in some way figured out the way to get each new movie (irrespective of how horrible) invited to prestigious worldwide movie festivals.

By distinction, Araki belongs to the John Waters faculty of outsider filmmaking, poking enjoyable at uptight mainstream tradition, whether or not that’s by way of a stoner comedy like “Smiley Face” or a nihilistic cri de coeur like “The Doom Generation,” without paying a lot thoughts to such sq. notions as “good acting.” Wilde delivers a pure-camp performance right here, making an attempt to one-up Miranda Priestly along with her imperious office angle, cover-girl eyeliner and droll line deliveries. More ferocious than any cougar, she lures Elliot into her spider’s internet of an workplace and threatens to report him to HR, before propositioning him for intercourse. She desires it without strings. He’s too naive to comprehend she’ll have him whipped in every sense of the phrase.

Elliot already has a girlfriend (Charli xcx), though she’s too distracted with grad faculty to fulfill him sexually. So he turns to his mates for recommendation, whether or not it’s Chase Sui Wonders as the roommate who lives vicariously by means of his exploits or Mason Gooding as his insatiably homosexual co-worker. The script (which Araki wrote with “Now Apocalypse” associate Karley Sciortino) never absolutely makes the case for the way this vixen figured out her worker’s deepest fantasies, though almost all of Araki’s characters are sexually fluid, so possibly Elliot’s awakening isn’t such a stretch.

In Hoffman’s fingers, Elliot appears like a cross between the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman (the younger actor’s dad) and a roguishly good-looking member of the Kennedy clan. He quantities to a less confident version of his “Licorice Pizza” character, still loads enthusiastic about crawling round on all fours or taking a intercourse toy in the backdoor (the look on Elliot’s face after Erika penetrates him for the first time says all of it). Tellingly, when considering about Erika on his personal, Elliot entertains more conventional wishes, like getting married and beginning a household.

Hoffman and Wilde’s dedication makes the movie really feel more important than it’s. It’s better to think about this both as pure, irreverent escapism or a guiltless pleasure. There’s no important message or perceptive social perception to be gleaned from “I Want Your Sex,” past Araki giving the children enthusiastic permission to check their very own boundaries. Once you get past the shock, the plot falls aside. But that hardly issues, since Araki’s achieved his main purpose: getting a repressed technology to loosen up about intercourse by pushing the boundaries between profound and profane. How’s that for a cheerful ending?