Gregg Araki’s latest film, “I Want Your Sex”

This is the latest film from auteur and New Queer Cinema pioneer Gregg Araki. It received a warm reception at Sundance earlier this year, and just had a minor run across theatres (at least in the US).

I’m personally a big fan of Araki (The Doom Generation is one of my favorite films ever), and was intrigued by the idea of a kink-forward comedy that also functions as commentary on cultural shifts, particularly for GenZ. Overall, I had mixed feelings. I think it overall worked really well as a dark satire with acerbic dialogue and canny meta observations about new generational attitudes towards sex, relationships, the fear of failure in both, and the voyuerism that comes with perpetually mining one’s self for the endless churn of content and spectacle. For all that is great about this film, as a member of the kink community, I found myself sighing at yet another portrayal of a kinky D/s relationship >!laden with toxicity or played up for laughs, even if the situation weirdly works for the couple!<.

Has anyone else seen this film? Would love to hear thoughts, especially given that kink-forward films that somewhat reach the zeitgeist are so few and far between.