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Sex Is …
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It is scarcely a film, but as propagandistic, talking-heads documentaries go, Sex Is … is fast, lively and informative. An extremely diverse group of gay men bear witness to the history of their erotic lives. The montage of these testimonies is constructed in the manner of David Caesar’s Australian doco Carcrash (1995): first we hear about all the wild, formative pleasures of gay love and sex – and then we collide with the cold, hard realities of living in the era of AIDS. Despite the prevailing gloom, Marc Huestis’ Eros-affirming message comes across loud and clear. This is one of a spate of 1990s gay films (Lie Down with Dogs [1995] is another) that try to confront the apocalyptic mood of our time with optimism, humour and energy. Sex Is … is also au fait with a particular trend in contemporary documentary production. Personal accounts are edited in such a way as to conjure a collective voice of identity. And the constant stream of words is spiced up with an often hilarious archive of clips and stills from old educational reels and popular magazines – as well as feverish glimpses of ecstatic sexual practices. © Adrian Martin December 1995 |
