Movie Review: "I Want Your Sex" Delights In Kinky Workplace Mischief
9/12 ForReel Score | 4/5 Stars
New Queer Cinema auteur Gregg Araki has framed I Want Your Sex, his first feature in twelve years, as a “love letter to Gen Z.” He hopes to break through the prudish social barriers that were established during the isolated COVID years to unlock a desire for transgression and perversion. I’m not sure he’s going to succeed. His film hinges on a workplace affair that gender bends a traditionally patriarchal power dynamic. It unapologetically indulges in the kink of that scenario and only touches upon the morality of it through personal conflict. It just won’t pass the smell test enough to liberate those who enter with a black and white sense of right and wrong. Thankfully, I Want Your Sex squarely hit the elder side of my Zillennial mind and thus I was able to revel in its carnal delights.
We follow recent college grad Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) as he takes a job at artist and sexual provocateur Erika Tracy’s (Olivia Wilde) art gallery. He is given such tasks as chewing endless piles of gum to place upon Erika’s outline of a vagina. Erika picks up on his nervous energy and quickly starts making sexual advances that Elliot gleefully accepts, more than willing to grovel and perform all demands. Meanwhile, Elliot’s ineffectual girlfriend Minerva (Charli xcx) is too concerned with her studies to even slightly enjoy sex or suspect wrongdoing.
Hot off The Invite, Olivia Wilde delivers another revelatory performance as the domineering Erika. She fearlessly dives into both her confident sexual expression and the more subliminal layers of insecurity that come with having to commodify her pleasure. Her profession is so archaic that controlling another person through kink acts as solid ground. However, she’s not completely cold. We can tell that her physical and mental exploration of Elliot is rooted in a sincere desire for him to live a more empowered life. Their relationship eventually becomes messy, but Wilde never allows Erika to become a predatory stereotype. That’s rather important, as Araki’s choice to cast Cooper Hoffman opposite her does bring to mind the controversial dynamic he shared with Alana Haim in Licorice Pizza. However, now that he is a grown man, he is allowed to relax and enjoy the company of this older woman without shame. Hoffman is more confident on-screen than ever before, a perfectly lovable goofball. He’s never sexy, but we do understand why Erika enjoys spending time with him.
The supporting cast is also full of gems who are clearly ecstatic to be acting in an Araki joint. Charli xcx plays against type as an insufferably shrill person who cannot even seem to fathom the concept of pleasure. The lack of expression in her American accent perfectly fuels the irritation we feel whenever Elliot attempts to spend time with her. Mason Gooding oozes fully realized sexuality as Elliot’s gay co-worker/confidante. By contrast, Chase Sui Wonders is hilariously sheepish as his roommate, who is clearly going through a sexuality crisis despite her unwillingness to put more words behind it than “I wish you could have sex without a penis.” That notion gets put to the test in a wildly uncomfortable scene in the second half. Daveed Diggs is delightfully snippy as the Nigel to Wilde’s Miranda Priestly. We even get Johnny Knoxville and Margaret Cho as a pair of surprisingly believable detectives who figure into the story’s framing device.
Araki visualizes I Want Your Sex with the vibrance and color he brought to Smiley Face and Nowhere. It mirrors the blissful serotonin boost that Elliot receives through playful subjugation. The first half moves at a lightning fast pace, allowing us to be just as swept up into Erika’s kink as he is. The snappy editing extends to the sex scenes, which are plentiful but also brief enough to avoid feeling pornographic. They’re intoxicating in part because just enough is left to the imagination. It does such a masterful job at realizing the joy of it all that it only falters once it starts splashing cold water on the affair. Eventually, some toxicity does arise. Araki and Karley Sciortino’s screenplay can’t help but strain to bring said conflict to the surface, especially since the scruples that Elliot starts to develop seemingly arise out of nowhere. This eventually spirals into Erika becoming a bit of a villain, and while Wilde also relishes the moments to fully reveal the mess within her worldview, it’s just a little bit forced. Perhaps Araki knew that his desired audience would bounce off the film if it wasn’t entirely aspirational, leading him to undercut his mission statement.
Regardless, I Want Your Sex is a spellbinding exploration of the complete subversion of a young man’s limited life experience. Araki returns to the director’s chair fully embracing levity, creating one of his most easily digestible and rewatchable outings of his landmark career. It also continues to establish Wilde as a supernova who will not allow Hollywood to degrade or shame her ever again. It may not act as a balm for prudishness, but if you’re someone who yearns for the open sexuality of previous eras of independent cinema, strap in.