Sebastian
critic Reviews
, 73% Fresh Tomatometer Score- Mollica compels as a young man caught between two lives and his performance elevates Sebastian, a provocative if uneven story that explores an artist's quest to find inspiration and authenticity in the name of art.
- , Fresh Tomatometer ScoreManuel BetancourtLos Angeles Times
With its keen, sensual eye, “Sebastian” makes its portrait of an artist as a young sex worker brim with pained authenticity about how fleeting and seemingly transactional intimacies remain rife sites of exploration for queer writers.
Read full article - , Fresh Tomatometer ScoreBob MondelloNPR
British character actor Jonathan Hyde is understated and dignified as the editor who gets past Max's defenses, while relative newcomer Ruaridh Mollica lets you see every chink in Max's armor just before a piece of that armor falls away.
Read full article - , Rotten Tomatometer ScoreJ. Kim MurphyVariety
Despite the film’s confident naturalism, it seems less intimate as it goes on, with Max somehow growing more distant and generic as he becomes more comfortable in his own skin.
Read full article - , Fresh Tomatometer ScoreMonica CastilloRogerEbert.com
For all its gloomy aesthetic, there is something life-affirming about the kindness of a stranger who wants to read your work and the power that comes with owning one’s own words and stories.
Read full article - , Rotten Tomatometer ScoreChris AzzopardiNew York Times
The film chases its own tail, resulting in a foreseeable transformation that has the emotional resonance of an after-school special.
Read full article - , Fresh Tomatometer ScoreRandy MyersSan Jose Mercury News
Mollica’s accomplished, measured performance drives Mäkelä’s sophomore feature, which refreshingly avoids judgment and gives Max the chance to embrace the wholeness of his queer sexuality through his experiences.
Read full article - , Fresh Tomatometer ScoreJosh WinningRadio Times
As a whole, Sebastian falls short of the kind of piercing insight that Max is attempting to achieve in his own writing, but the film comes alive in the later scenes he shares with an elderly client with whom he forms a profound connection.
Read full article - , Fresh Tomatometer ScoreCain Noble-DaviesFILMINK (Australia)
… trades in both writer porn and actual porn, but in a way that does justice to the emotional realities involved with each.
Read full article - , Fresh Tomatometer ScoreJennie KermodeEye for Film
Having set up all the elements of a thriller, the film proceeds to untangle them in a refreshingly different and mature way.
Read full article - , Rotten Tomatometer ScoreDave GianniniLoud and Clear Reviews
Sebastian is a movie with a lot of promise that seems to focus on the wrong moments. There is an excellent short film hidden within the confines of a wandering narrative.
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