"Better Than Sex" isolates two characters in an inner-city Sydney loft apartment, where they enjoy sex virtually nonstop for three days. They then discover, to their amazement and consternation, that they have fallen in love. Tyro writer-director Jonathan Teplitzky has managed to make a movie about sex that doesn't feel like sexploitation, thanks to discreet camera angles and two excellent actors. But he doesn't pull off the larger task of making us care about these people. We wish them well, but do not particularly want to watch them explore their bodies.
"Better Than Sex" demonstrates why sex rarely makes a good spectator sport: In drama, sex must express characters' drives and emotional states. Otherwise, the acts carry little emotional weight. Unfortunately, that is the case here. This Australian art house offering may find a few fans in North American release, but the material is too thin to anticipate a very long run.
Cin (Susie Porter) and Josh David Wenham) meet at a party, seen fleetingly in flashback, then share a taxi ride home. Each weighs the options of a one-night stand. We hear their inner thoughts, and sometimes the film cuts to individual interviews with them as if they were participating in a weird late-night cable show. Since Josh, a free-lance wildlife photographer, will return to his London home in three days, each figures the one-nighter is "safe." No matter what happens, they will be half a world apart by the week's end.
Well, one night of frolic leads to a late-morning tussle in bed, which leads to a second and then a third night. Between the episodes of drawer-droppings, each drops his or her guard long enough to reveal a few private insights. But Teplitzky the writer lacks the imagination to give these characters an interesting inner life. If these two are indeed made for each other, then seemingly what unites them is the utter banality of their lives.
As there is little narrative as such, Teplitzky gooses his story along through artificial devices such as a Greek chorus of friends, who offer catty commentary, and an older female taxi driver who waits day and night outside Cin's flat, ready with advice at all hours.
These devices work against the otherwise realistic movie, which cinematographer Gar--ry Phillips shoots in natural light, underscored by David Hirschfelder's gentle, soulful music.
Since nothing much is ever going on, the mind drifts. We wonder why Cin keeps her front door unlocked. Or why Josh is even in Sydney. And how it is that they never go out to eat, the refrigerator contains only wilted vegetables, and yet they have the stamina for three days of sex? Must be some new diet.
BETTER THAN SEX
Samuel Goldwyn Films
and Fireworks Pictures
NWS Film and Television Office,
France Television Distribution,
Meercat and NewVision Films
Producers Bruna Papandrea, Frank Cox
Screenwriter-director Jonathan Teplitzky
Executive producer Marc Bonduel
Director of photography Garry Phillips
Production designer Tara Kamath
Music David Hirschfelder
Costume designer Kelly May
Editor Shawn Seet
Color/stereo
Cast:
Josh David Wenham
Cin Susie Porter
Sam Catherine McClements
Tim Simon Bossell
Taxi driver Kris McQuade
Carole Imelda Corcoran
Running time -- 84 minutes
No MPAA rating...
"Better Than Sex" demonstrates why sex rarely makes a good spectator sport: In drama, sex must express characters' drives and emotional states. Otherwise, the acts carry little emotional weight. Unfortunately, that is the case here. This Australian art house offering may find a few fans in North American release, but the material is too thin to anticipate a very long run.
Cin (Susie Porter) and Josh David Wenham) meet at a party, seen fleetingly in flashback, then share a taxi ride home. Each weighs the options of a one-night stand. We hear their inner thoughts, and sometimes the film cuts to individual interviews with them as if they were participating in a weird late-night cable show. Since Josh, a free-lance wildlife photographer, will return to his London home in three days, each figures the one-nighter is "safe." No matter what happens, they will be half a world apart by the week's end.
Well, one night of frolic leads to a late-morning tussle in bed, which leads to a second and then a third night. Between the episodes of drawer-droppings, each drops his or her guard long enough to reveal a few private insights. But Teplitzky the writer lacks the imagination to give these characters an interesting inner life. If these two are indeed made for each other, then seemingly what unites them is the utter banality of their lives.
As there is little narrative as such, Teplitzky gooses his story along through artificial devices such as a Greek chorus of friends, who offer catty commentary, and an older female taxi driver who waits day and night outside Cin's flat, ready with advice at all hours.
These devices work against the otherwise realistic movie, which cinematographer Gar--ry Phillips shoots in natural light, underscored by David Hirschfelder's gentle, soulful music.
Since nothing much is ever going on, the mind drifts. We wonder why Cin keeps her front door unlocked. Or why Josh is even in Sydney. And how it is that they never go out to eat, the refrigerator contains only wilted vegetables, and yet they have the stamina for three days of sex? Must be some new diet.
BETTER THAN SEX
Samuel Goldwyn Films
and Fireworks Pictures
NWS Film and Television Office,
France Television Distribution,
Meercat and NewVision Films
Producers Bruna Papandrea, Frank Cox
Screenwriter-director Jonathan Teplitzky
Executive producer Marc Bonduel
Director of photography Garry Phillips
Production designer Tara Kamath
Music David Hirschfelder
Costume designer Kelly May
Editor Shawn Seet
Color/stereo
Cast:
Josh David Wenham
Cin Susie Porter
Sam Catherine McClements
Tim Simon Bossell
Taxi driver Kris McQuade
Carole Imelda Corcoran
Running time -- 84 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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