AFTER A BRIEF HIATUS, here resumes my annual roundup of some of the films I saw at the Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF) in June. While not an LGBT festival, there are always plenty of suitable entries for this magazine. Here is the second of four.
SEBASTIAN
Directed by Mikko Mäkelä
Kino Lorber
Sebastian is a film of dualities. The title refers to the assumed identity of Max, a successful short story writer who’s trying to write a novel and works as a hustler (okay, sex worker) to get material for his fiction. After each encounter, he quickly writes down exactly what was said and done—Sebastian’s latest escapade for his thirsty readers. But Max also has a regular gig as a freelance writer for a magazine—the kind of job that comes with deadlines and staff meetings, which can really get in the way when a client is demanding a booty call.
So Max aka Sebastian is a man leading two lives, which interpenetrate in complicated ways. As a writer, Max wins prizes and critical acclaim, but no one suspects that “Sebastian” is the author himself. His old Mum doesn’t know quite what to think. She couldn’t be prouder when Max pops up on the telly for an interview, but then there’s the matter of what he actually writes about. Sebastian, too, has trouble staying in character. After every sexual encounter, he turns back into Max and sneaks off with his laptop to write it all down. When one of his clients discovers what Max has written about him, he flies into a violent rage.
The counterpart to this tyrannical client is an educated gentleman who sees through the Sebastian routine and recognizes Max as an intelligent young man who’s able to talk about the books he’s reading or has read. The Manichean contrast between these two clients—one a savior, the other a destroyer—sets the stage for the film’s exciting conclusion. It won’t be a battle between good and evil so much as a struggle to end the dualism and learn to live, and write, as a whole person: as oneself.
