Sebastian
Max (Ruaridh Mollica) is a promising young writer living in London, trying to get his career off the ground while working a freelance job at a magazine. His novel is about the experiences of a sex worker, which he gathers material for by moonlighting as an escort for older men under the alias Sebastian. When he loses his writing gig, however, he’s forced to rely on sex work for money, causing him to become consumed by the world he’s writing about. Writer-director Mikko Mäkelä grapples with a handful of different themes within Sebastian. Despite a strong performance from Mollica and superb cinematography, it’s never clear what the motivations for Max or the filmmaker are.
When viewers meet the protagonist, he’s portrayed as a passionate expert on queer literature who’s pegged as an award-winning sensation to look out for. Although he claims that his research is solely based on interviews, he takes vain pride in what he does. He shows a narcissistic pleasure when uploading seductive pictures to his online profile and is visibly dejected when a potential client tells him that he’s not his type. Whether Max was driven to this line of work by his desire to create authentic art or as a means of satiating his vanity is an area that’s not really explored, which makes it harder to connect with them.
Mäkelä doesn’t shy away from Max’s sexual engagements; the sex scenes are numerous and graphic, almost to an excessive point. Just as things start to become repetitive, Max meets Nicholas (Jonathan Hyde), a kind-hearted intellectual with whom Max begins to develop a relationship. It’s at this point, where the protagonist arrives at a moral and artistic dilemma that causes him to rethink the direction that he wants to take his novel, that the script finds its thematic footing.
During the third act, with Max falling into the real-life version of the gritty story he wanted to avoid telling, the movie hits its stride. It’s here where Mollica’s performance is at its best, as Max wrestles with the unwanted situation that he’s been forced into. Unfortunately, this development arrives too late to make the intended impact.
Despite some murky character motivation, Sebastian stands as a well-made feature from Mäkelä, which explores some compelling ideas surrounding artistic creation and companionship.
Andrew Murray
Sebastian is released in select cinemas on 4th April 2025.
Watch the trailer for Sebastian here:
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