This Hindi movie is a pretty straightforward slice-of-life story that tries to give a modern look at what it's like to be a single, professional gay man. It dives into how he understands who he is, the chances he missed out on, and the personal choices he’s made along the way. The director used three parallel timelines to tell the story, which honestly didn't make much sense to me. While the core idea was actually pretty interesting, I really feel like this would have worked way better as a short film considering the point it was trying to make. Still, it wasn't a bad watch. The plot centers on Rachit, a city professional, and his friend Shikhar as they hang out for an evening. Rachit is a polished, urban guy, while Shikhar has more of a "small-town" rustic vibe, and you can really see the contrast between them when they talk. As the night goes on, Rachit starts thinking back to some old memories from a long time ago. He remembers being an intern after college in ...
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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