Young People Fucking

Martin Gero

BY Ashley CarterPublished Sep 26, 2007

Produced by Toronto-based Copperheart Entertainment, Young People Fucking headed this year’s Canada First! line-up at the Toronto International Film Festival. Though no movie could possibly live up to the hype that this title knowingly creates, first-time director Martin Gero manages a solid and insightful sex comedy that at least doesn’t make you feel duped.

With a small-ish budget of $1.5 million, the film takes place entirely in the respective bedrooms of five prototypical 20-something-ish couples: one long-term relationship, a first date, exes, wannabe fuck buddies (including Aaron Abrams, who co-wrote the script alongside Gero) and a proposed threesome. It’s formatted to follow each through the stages of a single sexual encounter, from "foreplay” to "afterglow.” Though the subject matter is obviously pretty blue, visually it’s not all that racy, mostly because it doesn’t really need to be, so don’t expect any Shortbus-esque human pile-ups. The couples’ narrative paths never even cross, though it’s easy to find emotional parallels in each situation despite the drastic differences in circumstance.

What entails is a thoughtfully hilarious psychosexual study and one of the smarter dialogue-driven sex comedies to hit the screen in a while. And though the whole thing admittedly loses some steam towards the end by not quite hitting any major revelations, the performances are unstoppable across the board.

Already being re-branded YPF by industry types who dare not speak its name, there’s a reason this small-budget film landed pre-fest distribution in Canada and the U.S. in spite of its title. Hopefully it doesn’t undergo any major edits before its proper release.
(Maple)

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