Sebastian

Authors striving for authenticity in their work often engage in extensive background research, sometimes of a firsthand nature, to get things right. However, when it comes to writer-director Mikko Mäkeläs second (and inexplicably much-applauded) feature, I have some serious reservations about its applicability here. This tale of a talented young London-based author of award-winning short stories and magazine pieces is embarking on his first novel, an inside exposé of the lives of gay male sex workers. To find out what these experiences are like, the ambitious emerging wordsmith, Max Williamson (Ruaridh Mollica), decides to investigate the subject by becoming an escort, arranging hook-ups through an internet website under the pseudonym Sebas...

Max (Ruaridh Mollica) juggles a career as an aspiring journalist and novelist with charging £200 per hour selling his services as an escort to, mainly, older men. His boyish good looks and obvious inexperience at the latter makes him popular and he proves successful enough to use his varied experiences to form the basis of his book. His publisher likes the freshness and intimacy of the adventures of Sebastian but a rather self-induced setback at work forces a change to the dynamic of both his life and his work. Though there is the odd sex scene to enliven the drama, the rest of this is all a rather shallow investigation of the high-end comfort market and whilst Mollica is easy enough on the eye his performance over-relies on that and is qui...