Utopia
Jon Bernthal stan accounts, batten down your hatches: The primary trailer for Lena Dunham’s new coming-of-age comedy Sharp Stick is lastly right here, and Bernthal manages to allure his means via the vast majority of its 230 seconds, gold chains and biceps galore. Hallelujah.
The trailer opens in flashback with star Kristine Froseth, who performs Sarah Jo, taking to her classic white Macbook to Google the time-honored phrase that so many people did rising up, “Two Folks Having Intercourse Collectively.” A few of us have been beginning our searches with “Muscle man,” however hey, everybody’s journey towards sexual freedom is completely different, and that’s what Sharp Stick is all about.
“I’m not somebody who's destined for love, so when it seems in my path, I've to take it,” a mid-20s Sarah Jo then confidently states, bringing us ahead to the movie’s present-day timeline. For her, that love comes within the type of her dreamy, older, married employer, Josh, performed by Bernthal. Sarah Jo is decided to behave on her love for Josh, even when it means probably ruining his marriage to his spouse Heather, performed by Dunham, who's pregnant with the couple’s second baby.
Say what youwill about Lena Dunham, however casting your self because the spouse of one in all Hollywood’s hottest main males is an immediately iconic transfer, one which deserves simply as a lot reward as all of Women. Sharp Stick is Dunham’s first main return to filmmaking since her tepid one-season HBO sequenceTenting in 2018, and it seems to be to be a significant return to kind for the controversial author. The movie echoes the confused relatability of navigating your 20s that Dunham so deftly placed on show in her first function movie, 2010’s Tiny Furnishings.
After their affair is uncovered, Josh returns to his spouse, making Sarah Jo marvel if his choice implies that she’s unhealthy at intercourse. This sends her on a fierce exploration of the facility that lies inside her sexuality. “Nobody will ever have the prospect to do that to me once more,” she says, whereas organising a hoop mild to take attractive selfies for an internet site referred to as “Clitty Clitty Bang Bang.” Begin engraving the Oscar now, as a result of nothing is thrashing that. I’m useless severe.
Serving to Sarah Jo navigate the darkish and dazzling world of need are her adopted sister, Treina (Taylour Paige, contemporary off a fierce star flip in final summer season’s Zola), and her mom Marilyn, performed by the incomparable Jennifer Jason Leigh. Treina and Marilyn are Sarah Jo’s fearless tour guides into the world of intercourse. “I really feel like I used to be born with a crush,” Treina tells her sister. “I used to be, like, within the nursery crushing on a fetus.” Lastly, some correct illustration for the perpetually crushing, sexy freaks on the market. Kudos to Lena Dunham for lastly shifting towards correct depictions of the marginalized!
Sharp Stick premiered at Sundance earlier this yr to unsurprisingly divided critiques. Dunham referred to as the movie her “most private venture but” through the movie’s screening, however some critics discovered it to be missing depth in its portrayal of sexuality.
However the wonderful thing about Dunham’s work is that it so typically does divide individuals, reaching some and alienating others. That’s what makes her voice so robust. We might use a movie that attracts out some difficult emotions, posing as many questions on life and our autonomy because it does easy solutions. Plus, we’re glad to have one thing, something, to return out of this summer season that’s not one other god-forsaken Marvel film. I’ll take Jon Bernthal’s boobs over green-screened schlock any day.
Sharp Stick opens in choose cities on July 29 and nationwide on August 5.