Max, a 25-year-old aspiring writer living in London, begins a double life as a sex worker in order to research his debut novel.

‘Sebastian’ is the story of a young aspiring writer who turns to sex work in order to supply material for a novel he is attempting to write. The name ‘Sebastian’ is an alias he uses on gay escorting websites, masking his real name (Max) and creating a persona that enables him to mentally separate this work from who he believes himself to really be. While he’s undertaking sex work ostensibly to generate content for his novel, he’s also perhaps doing it for money or for the thrill that it gives him to take on a different persona, or perhaps because he’s lonely and this provides him with company. In the hands of relative newcomer Ruaridh Mollica, Max/Sebastian’s motives are always kept nicely ambiguous.

Max works as a freelance journalist for a popular magazine during the day, which provides him with an income and the freedom to pursue other pursuits at the same time. In an environment where many of his colleagues are also aspiring writers, he feels under pressure to stand out from the crowd and become successful and for a period, it appears his night time exploits are providing him with sufficiently juicy material to achieve that. The movie follows him as he develops a relationship with an older man (played well by Jonathan Hyde) while also getting himself into a couple of difficult situations, leading to inevitable challenges when his out of work behaviour starts to interfere with his journalism role, and ultimately both of his lives start to collide.

‘Sebastian‘ is a fairly solid movie with some interesting ideas, with Ruaridh Mollica playing the leading role well, but I did think it faltered in the final act and didn’t develop as well as I’d hoped it would.

Rating: 3/5

Directed By: Mikko Mäkelä

Starring: Ruaridh Mollica, Hiftu Quasem, Ingvar Sigurdsson, Jonathan Hyde, Lara Rossi and Leanne Best

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt30317033/