We’ve noticed a recent rash of films that center sex. What do you think that’s all about? Regardless, it’s sure been hard to miss. A couple news loads ago we told you about The Invite, a sex comedy and relationship drama centered on a struggling married couple whose party of two is transformed after they invite their sexually adventurous upstairs neighbors to dinner. But that was just the tip….
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, currently playing in theatres in the U.S. and Canada, follows Kris, a queer filmmaker (played by Hannah Einbinder) hired to revive a fading 1980s slasher franchise, who becomes entangled with the reclusive actress who starred in the original film (played by Gillian Anderson). I Want Your Sex, released in theatres at the end of July, follows a sexually frustrated young man (played by Cooper Hoffman) who becomes a sexual muse and sub of a provocative artist (played by Olivia Wilde). And One Night Only, also currently playing in theatres, is a romantic comedy set in a near-future America where premarital sex is illegal except for one annual 12-hour period. These are diverse films with varying audience receptions, but one interesting thread is that they all encourage – albeit in different ways – sexual subjects to get out there and fuck! As film critic Sean Burns put it (we’ve linked you to his review), “this is the third movie we’ve seen in six weeks about uninhibited older characters imploring uptight young people to loosen up and get laid.” This taps into the so-called “sex recession” that everyone and their mother has been pointing at over the past few years. We’re left wondering whether these films are indicative of some collective horny longing
