07 June 2024

SEX IN THE CINEMA: The importance and popularity of desire on screen

". . .sex in cinema has been on the decline for over a decade, owing to the demise of mid-budget adult films and the predominance of four-quadrant superhero fare. 
The number of sex scenes in US movies in the 2010s was the lowest in decades, on par with the 1960s, according to a study by the Black List’s Kate Hagen using IMDb data. 
A study by the Economist, looking at sexual content (excluding assault) in the 250 top-grossing films per year, found a 40% decrease since 2000.
In other words, the bar is low – low enough that most of these newer films coast on the mere suggestion of sex, and the simple prioritization of desire, rather than actual graphic sex scenes.

Bringing sexy back: how Hollywood suddenly got horny again

Did it ever go away? ....This movie, won a prize @ 2024 Cannes Film Festival

  • A man and woman caress each others' faces on the dancefloor

    Adria Arjona and Glen Powell in Hit Man. Photograph: AP


    How Hollywood suddenly got horny again


    6h ago
  • Fri 7 Jun 2024 12.22 EDT

    Last modified on Fri 7 Jun 2024 12.48 EDT

Hit Man is the latest film this year to suggest that Hollywood is trying to bring sexiness, if not always actual sex, back to the big screen, at a time of superhero fatigue, years of relative sexlessness on screen and routine box office woe. 

Powell is coming off a starring turn opposite Sydney Sweeney in the sleeper hit Anyone But You, the rare R-rated romcom which grossed $219m through word-of mouth and TikTok; this summer, he’ll lead Twisters, teaches that good storm chasers must want to “fuck the storm”. a standalone sequel to the 90s disaster flick that, as one Letterboxd reviewer memorably put it, 

 (“You don’t face your fears. You ride ’em,” says Powell in the trailer, suggesting a faithful adaptation). 

Love Lies Bleeding, starring Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brian, gives the neo-noir a sapphic twist, two sweaty female bodies entwined in various states of undress.

Mike Faist, Zendaya and Josh O’Connor in Challengers. Photograph: Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures

The mere suggestion of a threesome between tennis players Tashi (Zendaya), Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor) in Luca Guadagnino’s lustful Challengers sent the internet into a tizzy – and theaters to sell throuple ticket discounts – upon release. 

Anne Hathaway, who became famous during the sunset days of the mid-budget theatrical film, lent her talents to Amazon’s The Idea of You, a premium-grade adaptation of One Direction fan fiction in which a 40-year-old Los Angeles mom has a taboo affair with a fictionalized Harry Styles. A similar premise – famous younger man dating middle-aged mom – is presented with Netflix sheen in A Family Affair, starring Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman, due later this month. . .


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RAPTUROUS RECEPTION @ 2024 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL:

Adults-Only Screwball Comedy

US director Sean Baker's latest film exploring the world of sex work has been greeted rapturously at the Cannes Film Festival – and after great reviews for his previous work, it could be his breakout commercial hit. 
The Palme d'Or
In short: Anora has won the Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. The film is directed by US director Sean Baker. The Cannes Film Festival ran from May 14 to May 25.

US director Sean Baker's Anora wins Palme d'Or at 2024 Cannes Film Festival

By Caitlin Rawling with wires
Posted , updated 
Director Sean Baker said his win was dedicated "to all sex workers past, present and future."(Reuters: Stephane Mahe)


Anora review: 
This adults-only screwball comedy about a quick-witted stripper is like a 'more believable Pretty Woman'
By Nicholas Barber
Some writer-directors specialize in films about superheroes, others specialize in films about cowboys. 
Sean Baker specializes in films about people who have sex for money. They are invariably sympathetic, credible and chaotically funny slices of life, hence Tangerine (2015), The Florida Project (2017) and Red Rocket (2021) have garnered rave reviews and cult followings, even if they haven't been box-office smashes. 
Baker's latest film, Anora, is earthier than ever, so it might not buck that trend, but this adults-only screwball comedy is so likeable and entertaining that it might just reach a wider audience, and it might just win a prize at the Cannes Film Festival's awards ceremony today, having premiered there on Tuesday.
If nothing else, it should make a star of its leading lady, Mikey Madison, who appeared in Once Upon a Time In Hollywood (2019) and the rebooted Scream (2022), but is a revelatory force of nature here. She plays Ani, a twentysomething stripper from Brooklyn with a mustard-thick New Yawk accent and so much sassy charm that her quick-witted conversation is almost as attractive to her clients as her other assets. Baker being Baker, the club where she works is convincingly dingy and sleazy, and the services being offered are shown explicitly, which makes a change from the more glamorous yet prim clubs that crop up in some TV dramas. But it isn't horrifying or dangerous, which makes a change from the dives that crop up in crime thrillers. Ani and her colleagues are essentially safe and happy in their work. . . "
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