I Want Your Sex (2026)
Directed by Gregg Araki
When a naive young man becomes the sexual muse for a renowned and provocative artist, his dream job quickly turns dangerous as he is drawn into an obsessive world of power, betrayal, and murder.
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34 films that influenced I Want Your Sex
What critics say influenced I Want Your Sex
She makes a spectacular entrance floating lifelessly in a pool, like William Holden in “Sunset Boulevard.”
Starting with the Sunset Boulevard-esque opening scene of Elliot waking up from a blackout and noticing that Erika is floating face-down in her pool.
…the body in the pool evoking Sunset Boulevard…
We open in Sunset Boulevard territory as the body of renowned artist Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde) floats in a pool…
Araki’s passion for utilising and playing with neo-noir frames Elliot’s half-reversed Sunset Boulevard situation in a cosy rehashing of the story to detectives.
…a kooky psychosexual comedy that kicks off with both a Sunset Boulevard homage and a character declaring “I’m a slave to that vagina.”
Araki’s depiction of an intergenerational office relationship isn’t as incendiary as the ones in Secretary or Babygirl…
He can’t come close to matching the depth Maggie Gyllenhaal summoned as an abused subordinate in the superior “Secretary.”
The dynamic between them suggests a gender-swapped riff on “Secretary” (if also much goofier than that comparison might imply)…
The film plays out like an erotic workplace comedy reminiscent of Steven Shainberg’s Secretary (2002), albeit with the gender dynamics reversed.
Going into I Want Your Sex, I was expecting a mere gender-bent version of Steven Shainberg's Secretary, but there is far more originality than that.
As in fellow kink think pieces Pillion (2025) and Truly Naked (2026), the lines between healthy and unhealthy submission aren’t clearly defined.
In a year that has already offered the dom-sub rom com Pillion, starring Henry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård, this is a subgenre with many stories to tell.
…nor is his portrayal of S&M kinkier than what’s seen in Sanctuary or Pillion…
The end result is a total commitment to Elliot and to the identity he assumes, so much so that the hilarious depth of his immersion is rivaled only by Harry Melling’s lead performance in Pillion (2025).
The last Gregg Araki movie I watched was Mysterious Skin, so as you can imagine, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to experience an Araki movie again. I knew it would be good, but would it emotionally devastate me the way Mysterious Skin did?
From his earlier features like Mysterious Skin (his first trip to Sundance), to his recent television work with the Starz series Now Apocalypse, he has told stories that span the range of maturity and experience.
…his strongest since Mysterious Skin (2004)…
Most of his films have some element of sexuality in them like 2004's Mysterious Skin or 1997's Nowhere, but his latest feature turns that up to eleven.
…a director who made films I still greatly admire such as Mysterious Skin (2004) and Totally F**d Up (1993)…
…the script from Gregg Araki (Mysterious Skin and The Doom Generation)…
Yet the movie also pulls no punches in Elliot’s debasement, with it going into territory that flirts with a potential NC-17 rating, although Araki cuts away more often than he would have back in his Doom Generation days…
…his Teen Apocalypse Trilogy—”Totally F***ed Up,” “The Doom Generation,” and “Nowhere.”
The Nowhere/Doom Generation helmer’s latest work is I Want Your Sex…
Araki gave young, queer, alienated, and adrift Xers a voice in indie darlings like The Living End (1992), Totally F*ed Up (1993), The Doom Generation (1995), and Nowhere (1997): all laced with his auteur sense of humour, mischief, and curiosity.
…the so-called Teen Apocalypse Trilogy of “Totally F***ed Up” (1993), “The Doom Generation” (1995) and “Nowhere” (1997)…
Beloved queer filmmaker Gregg Araki—the brilliant, irreverent mind behind teen cult classics like The Doom Generation (1995), Nowhere (1997), and Mysterious Skin (2004)—is back after an extended cinematic absence with I Want Your Sex…
Instead, he’s working in the mode of his 2007 stoner comedy Smiley Face: maximalist performances, Pee-wee’s Playhouse production design, and a generally manic sense of humor that’s a far cry from the grungier feel of his more famous work.
Gregg Araki’s first feature in twelve years is a return to the more accessibly comic vibe of his underrated Smiley Face.
I Want Your Sex is most similar to Araki’s work in Smiley Face, with the occasional flourishes of delightful but absurd 2D animations and overexposed lighting that makes the film look more like a straight-up porno at points.
…with movies like “The Doom Generation” and “Smiley Face,”…
…his Teen Apocalypse Trilogy—”Totally F***ed Up,” “The Doom Generation,” and “Nowhere.”
The Nowhere/Doom Generation helmer’s latest work is I Want Your Sex…
Araki gave young, queer, alienated, and adrift Xers a voice in indie darlings like The Living End (1992), Totally F*ed Up (1993), The Doom Generation (1995), and Nowhere (1997): all laced with his auteur sense of humour, mischief, and curiosity.
…the so-called Teen Apocalypse Trilogy of “Totally F***ed Up” (1993), “The Doom Generation” (1995) and “Nowhere” (1997)…
Beloved queer filmmaker Gregg Araki—the brilliant, irreverent mind behind teen cult classics like The Doom Generation (1995), Nowhere (1997), and Mysterious Skin (2004)—is back after an extended cinematic absence with I Want Your Sex…
I was an early fan of his “Teenage Apocalypse” trilogy, Nowhere being a longtime personal favorite.
…(a description that sounds a lot like Araki’s 2010 near-apocalyptic sci-fi sex comedy Kaboom on paper, complete with its neon palette, if we do say so ourselves)…
Araki (Mysterious Skin, Kaboom) is known for his outrageous approach, stretching the limits in his filmmaking and always looking for lines to cross.
…the first movie he’s made that feels like a movie he’s made since the similarly garish but more entrancingly self-possessed “Kaboom” in 2010…
Roxane Mesquida, "Kaboom"…
I think back to a screwball romcom such as Splendor, which explored a three-way sexual relationship. Araki’s latest, I Want Your Sex, feels like a cousin to that movie.
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Araki’s depiction of an intergenerational office relationship isn’t as incendiary as the ones in Secretary or Babygirl…
…no doubt inviting comparisons to the somewhat similar Nicole Kidman/Harris Dickinson workplace erotic thriller Babygirl…
…it’s a traditional tale of generational male malaise in the vein of The Graduate (1967), albeit with more whips and chains.
“Philadelphia” (1993) had more action.
It is like “Kissing Jessica Stein” all over again.
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On Schoenbrun, rather than any one film
Working in a very different register than Schoenbrun—to wit, the irreverent neo-pop universe he invented—Araki mines a remarkably similar set of themes.
These performers ensure Elliot and Tracy are a modern incarnation of Bringing Up Baby or What’s Up, Doc?’s leads, albeit with more pink dildos.