Martin Gero Tagged Articles at Cinematical

"The film isn't as raunchy as its title suggests."

Here, here! The above is the dek for Jam! Showbiz's coverage of the Ottawa screening for Martin Gero's Young People F**king. For those not familiar with the particulars of Canadian politics -- Ottawa is the country's capital, which makes a screening of Gero's film particularly noteworthy when you consider the current and ridiculous political press to deny tax credits to films like Gero's. As I've said many times now: a film that has a racy title, but is far from the raciest fare out there. In fact, it's pretty tame.

Still, the controversy continues. One young woman got canned recently for putting her Tory boss' name (Parliament member Gary Goodyear) on the guest list for the film, and was one of the noteworthy guests, along with MPs like Denis Coderre. And gee, when the film aired, this is what Jam had to say about it: "The first 45 minutes of the movie were tame, filled with dialogue as the ensemble cast was introduced -- several dysfunctional couples about to have sex. Aside from partial nudity and sexually suggestive dialogue, the film wasn't as raunchy as its title suggests."

All because of a name. I now wonder -- just how racy can a film be if it has a name like, say, "Tulips are Pretty" or "Let's Drink a Cup of Tea"? Would it fly under the radar? You'd think a bunch of educated people could realize that the movie's title is there for a reason, but that the reason isn't scandalous fare. It's called Young People F**king to grab attention. But I bet they never thought it would cause this much attention.

At the beginning of the month, Martin Gero's comedy Young People F**king was dealt a big blow by some proposed changes to Canada's film funding requirements. Canadian Heritage officials had announced their plan for "expanding slightly" the criteria for denying tax credits, which would dip into areas of violence and sexual content that lacks an educational purpose. As The Hollywood Reporter describes it, Bill C-10 came about "after Prime Minister Stephen Harper reportedly objected to public subsidies being used to produce and launch Gero's debut."

I'd bet almost anything that Mr. Harper hasn't seen the film. I've said it once, and I'll say it again -- the racy title is not indicative of raunchy, skin-filled sexual content! On the bright side, the motion is currently stalled, and the buzz is helping the romantic comedy, which has been picked up by Maple Pictures. F**king was supposed to be released by Christal Films next month, but producer Steven Hoban took the film back and sold it to Maple, who will release it on June 13 on 25-30 screens. Huzzah!

That whole Juno/Genie thing isn't the only film news making waves in Canada, and I must say -- this round of news is worse. The Globe and Mail reports that the government is looking to increase restrictions on film tax credits to help cut graphic sex and violence, while an evangelist takes credit for the whole crackdown. "Canadian Heritage officials confirmed yesterday they will be 'expanding slightly' the criteria used for denying tax credits to include grounds such as gratuitous violence, significant sexual content that lacks an educational purpose, or denigration of an identifiable group. More details are promised next week." Well, that's certainly vague, worrisome, and really ... BS. But why should you care?

Think about the work created by the likes of David Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan, Guy Maddin, and the other filmmakers who have made international names for themselves with their cinematic art -- fare which does tap into the flames the government is looking to extinguish. Cronenberg is dead-on when he says: "The irony is that it is the Canadian films that have given us an international reputation [that] would be most at risk because they are the edgy, relatively low-budget films made by people like me and others that will be targeted by this panel." It already looks like Martin Gero's Young People F*cking, which I reviewed at TIFF, is going to be hit by these changes. Hell, it's title is one of the raciest things about it! It's about sex, but it's not some Shortbus sexfest.

Young People F*cking is, indeed, the story of young people, well, f*cking. But it is not the explosively shocking film that the title suggests. After forays into real sex with Shortbus, many are quick to imagine that a film which uses the f-word in its title must also be shocking in its plot and execution. But it is not. Sure, there are jaw-dropping moments, but they are served through the writing and scenes, not how much skin hits the screen. Martin Gero's feature debut is simply an adult film about sex that, as he tells it, discusses what happens after those first forays -- the ones that have been well documented over the years in teen sex comedies.

The film follows the scenarios of The Friends, The Couple, The Exes, The First Date and The Roommates -- but not in an intricately-entwined, John Sayles sort of way. Each group of people explores sex on their own turf and do not interact with each other -- instead, they embody vastly different sexual experiences. However, they come together by hitting the truths of modern relationships and how both the mundane and risque often come from the same place.