What Eats, Shoots, and Leaves? Swanberg and Autoerotic
July 26th, 2011
Continuing his rapid reverse distribution model, Chicago filmmaker, Joe Swanberg, releases his latest film, Autoerotic. The dark horror sex comedy was released to video-on-demand back in June but the theatrical premiere took place July 22nd, 2011 at the IFC Center.
Despite being slighted by Time Out Chicago, which said it suffered from sophisticated movie-making cliches and a lack of basic filmmaking techniques, Swanberg’s latest is no more guilty of false intellect than major studio releases. Autoerotic is more appropriately, a mature update of Woody Allen’s segmented sex comedy Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* But Were Afraid to Ask (1972).
On the other hand, Autoerotic is like a soft-core Halloween of fetishes where the killer is sexual dissatisfaction and a lover’s self-obsession. Swanberg and co-director, Adam Wingard, revel pansexuality, BDSM, DIY porn, and the female orgasm. I also appreciate that the myth of absolute sexual fulfillment is finally getting debunked. The writer-actor co-creation is shot at achieving some sexual equality between its brave and willing female and male cast. The frank, non-judgmental dialogue between couples about desire and sexual frustration are conversations the quiet majority has regularly. Swanberg is always surprising his audience with his ubiquitous presence in or behind his films. By releasing new work as rabidly as his characters have sex, Swanberg can hit or miss, but his experimentation pays off with Autoerotic.
Swanberg and Wingard offer lessons in treating sexual dysfunction in a relationship and set-up some funny what-if-this-really-happened endings to each vignette. In Swanberg’s movies, we’re often physically closer to the characters but removed from the story. Here, each segment opens like a peep hole, giving us a double voyeuristic advantage of the lens within a lens framing of sex through iPhone cameras. Wingard pairs well with Swanberg, bringing his obvious photographic talent and lending his writing to the credits. Wingard remains direct yet intimate while holding a steadier frame than Swanberg’s own hand. This is to the advantage of very awkward sexual moments that come across funnier in wider angles.
Featured cast includes Kate Lyn Scheil (Silver Bullets, Green, The Color Wheel, Happy Life), Amy Seimetz (Incredibly Small, Alexander the Last), Lane Hughes (Uncle Kent), Kris Swanberg (Kissing on the Mouth, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Young American Bodies), Frank V. Ross (Young American Bodies, Audrey the Trainwreck).
Premiers in Landmark Theater’s Nuart in Los Angeles, CA August 12th. Autoerotic is available on Comcast and Amazon on demand from IFC Midnight, IFCFestivalDirect, and Swanberry Films (the partial namesake of director Swanberg). IFC Midnight distributes video-on-demand titles that have recently had their premiere at Cannes, Toronto, Sundance, New York, AFI, SXSW, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
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