Scenes Of A Sexual Nature – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

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ThinkFilm presents Scenes Of A Sexual Nature. 92 minutes. Written by Aschlin. Rated R for language and sexual content.

Directed By:

Ed Blum

Cast:

Ewan McGregor……….Billy
Hugh Bonneville……….Gerry
Adrian Lester……….Pete
Sophie Okonedo……….Anna

The Film:

I can’t go so far as to say this film is bad, cause it’s not. Somehow it’s worse than that. It’s a film you watch and you’re trying to figure out how you feel about it while it’s going and then it’s over and don’t even care enough to think whether you liked it or not. Then an hour or so later your hard pressed to remember any given moment or scene. Then the next day at work you try and tell you co-workers about this film you just saw but nothing has lingered long enough in your memory to impart onto them.

Scenes Of A Sexual Nature is seven short vignettes that all take place during one afternoon in the London park Hampstead Heath. Each of the couples in these vignettes has some sort of relationship – be it a new one, old one, or somewhere in-between. You’ve got a married couple where the husband get caught starring at a pretty girl, a gay couple who discuss the idea of adoption, an older couple who realize they were in love 40 years ago, a couple signing divorce papers, a blind date and some others.

While I can’t say it’s a bad film, I can say it doesn’t work. While trying to figure out why it doesn’t work I came up with the following:

1) The script: So these vignettes are supposed to “investigate the intimacies” of these couples and while some universal ideas are discussed here, they never seem to ever do more than scratch the surface. They don’t try to make light of these ideas or offer new theories, they just say “here they are!” and hope you enjoy them. For example, thin is the story of the divorced couple; the only thing I took away from it was that the guy really had to pee.

2) The acting: Again, the acting isn’t bad. Were you to see these vignettes on a stage you would probably thing nothing of it. But as they are on screen, these performances come off as just that: performances. They don’t draw you into the characters. When a scene works you think “oh, that was nice.” But then you’re whisked off to the next one.

3) The characters: None of them are very memorable, and this ties back into both of the above. Perhaps you can relate to one or two of them, or you might know someone like that, but then the story is over, you’re ready to move on to the next one. It seems to me a successful short story should leave you wanting more. Leave you wondering what comes next for those characters. And that doesn’t happen here.

It’s a very competently made film. It looks fine, the directing is ok, the score is a little much at times but never annoying. The film even has a few moments that work and entertain, but those are far between.

These are seven character studies and bounce on the surface of something that could be interesting and odds are there are people that will enjoy this film. However I don’t see it reaching a wide audience or achieving any kind of indie cult status.

The DVD:

This film is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen. Sound is in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. There are Spanish subtitles.

Extras:

Audio Commentary with director Ed Blum and writer Aschiln Ditta: A pretty typical commentary. It’s pretty bland. Anything you want to know about the making of the film you can get from the documentary and that is far more interesting.

If We Build It They Will Come: The Making Of Scenes…: Despite the uninspired film, this is one of the greatest making of… documentaries I’ve ever seen. They way they got this film made is inspired and a wonderful model for young filmmakers trying to started on their indie opus. The creators if this film completed and even released the film completely without studio help. It went on to become the most successful independently released film in Britain. If only the film was as great as the passion of the filmmakers.

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for Scenes Of A Sexual Nature
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE MOVIE

5.5
THE VIDEO

7.5
THE AUDIO

7.5
THE EXTRAS

7.5
REPLAY VALUE

3
OVERALL
6.5
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

The Inside Pulse
I can’t go so far as to say this film is bad, cause it’s not. Somehow it’s worse than that. It’s a film you watch and you’re trying to figure out how you feel about it while it’s going and then it’s over and don’t even care enough to think wether you liked it or not. Then an hour or so later your hard pressed to remember any given moment or scene. Then the next day at work you try and tell you co-workers about this film you just saw but nothing has lingered long enough in your memory to impart onto them.

Mike Noyes received his Masters Degree in Film from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. A few of his short films can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mikebnoyes. He recently published his first novel which you can buy here: https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Days-Years-Mike-Noyes-ebook/dp/B07D48NT6B/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528774538&sr=8-1&keywords=seven+days+seven+years