This is one of the better documentaries that I have seen in recent years. First things first, this is not a queer documentary by any means, but given its spearheaded by a 36 year old gay man, who is trying to understand why is America shell bent on shaming everything about sex and has been featured in multiple LGBT film festivals, I thought I should feature this here as well.
There is a ton of misinformation in USA about sex—which might explain why the United States has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the developed world. Obviously, we have a lot of issues when it comes to sex. Filmmaker Alex Liu is on a mission to sort it all out by talking with researchers, educators, and Pornhub data analysts, who can give us the naked truth. As a gay man raised in an Asian Catholic household, Liu uses his personal struggles with his own sexuality to start this important conversation. We see Alex having multiple conversations with even a priest, sex researchers from Kinsey institute and even Vancouver, a psychologist and most importantly his own family.
Of course, as you can imagine, the documentary is a lot about conversations right from how do you define sex, to abstinence to being gay or teen pregnancy, to medically what happens in brain for orgasm. You do see a lot of uncomfortable topics being discussed, but its the earthy wit, humor and charm of the narrator director Alex Liu that keeps this documentary very engaging and a thoroughly watchable fare. A charming and frank tour guide, Liu leaves no stone unturned on his mission, even masturbating in an MRI scanner for science. He has one mission, confront the country on its long shadow of same when its comes to sex (which I personally don't think is true), but I might be an exception. Eventually towards the end, as you could have expected, this personal pursuit culminates in the need for a comprehensive sex education for everyone. My favorite moments, which were also highly awkward for me to watch were Alex's conversation with his parents both in the beginning and the end. It really does take courage and a certain openness. Watch this documentary just for the brilliant and charming Alex. His nervous laughter was my favorite. In the hands of a less charming man, this would have completely fallen flat. (6/10)
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