‘Sebastian’ Review: An Aspiring Queer Novelist Loses, Then Rediscovers Himself Through a Double-Life in Sex Work
J. Kim Murphy Write what you know, as the saying goes — so if you don’t know it, do the research. A young Londoner takes on that task and goes through the digital looking glass in Finnish-British writer-director Mikko Mäkelä’s “Sebastian,” now in limited release from Kino Lorber after premiering at Sundance earlier this year.
Titled after the pseudonym that aspiring novelist Max (Ruaridh Mollica) employs when propositioning himself for other men, this adamantly morose drama keeps a close eye on its lead as he navigates his intimacy issues.
But despite the film’s confident naturalism, it seems less intimate as it goes on, with Max somehow growing more distant and generic as he becomes more comfortable in his own skin.
By day, Max makes his way as a freelance writer, turning in half-hearted features for a culture magazine. He tinkers away at short stories and idolizes Bret Easton Ellis (whose own reputation for queer auto-fiction is an acknowledged influence on “Sebastian”; the author is given special thanks in the credits).
