The Sessions

The Sessions   [R]

The Sessions is about a man disabled by polio, unable to move from the neck down and confined to an iron lung for most of his life.  This has made it hard for him to form intimate relationships, and so, having never experienced sex or real physical intimacy, he decides to explore the possibility of making it happen another way.  He decides to hire a therapist "sex surrogate" to help him with the experience.

Joe: This is new ground for John Hawkes, much different from his usual gruff characters.  Being able to move only your head must be difficult for an actor to deliver the same quality of performance, but when he steps out of his element here in voice and mannerism he handles it admirably.

I was impressed by the maturity of the script.  From the trailer I expected a light romantic comedy where someone falls in love when they shouldn't and awkwardness ensues, but it turned out to be much more.  The emotions were surprisingly honest and authentic and the characters dealt with them like adults.  It was not only refreshing, it elevated the movie above a simple "date night" flick and into the category of movies I would recommend watching.  One of the best movies I've seen this year, it had a perfect balance of light humor and emotional depth.

I'd rate it 4 out of 5 stars.

Crystl: I enjoyed this movie a lot more than I expected to.  I was a little apprehensive with the theme of the movie, but it was handled very well.  I like that they approached the subject of sex and his inexperience very straight forward, not over-done and not beating around the bush.
I liked the main characters in the story very much.  They were all very likeable characters but my favorite was the priest.

I agree with Joe's thoughts about how the characters handled things like adults.  It's not often you see a movie with mature adults...at all!  I loved the main character, Brian's, journey in the film.  I just loved his character and I thought the actor did very well portraying him.

I would recommend this movie to any adult who is comfortable seeing sex discussed openly and sexual situations.  There is also female nudity (Joe says Helen Hunt looks great, by the way)

I would also give this movie 4 out of 5 stars.