If you enjoyed SBS’s deliciously provocative new eight-part anthology , then you’ll find more intriguing stories at SBS On Demand. Explore a cornucopia of movies and series from around the world, focused on sexuality, lust and pleasure. From stories of queer sexual awakening to tales of outlandish fetishes, here are some of the most notable.
Spa Night
Indie film Spa Night offers a formidable look at the dilemma that arises when a young man’s sexual awakening clashes with his immigrant family’s conservative values. David (Joe Seo), the son of Korean immigrants to Los Angeles, takes a menial job in a men-only Koreatown sauna, only to discover that it’s also a surreptitious gay cruising destination, unexpectedly rousing his desire, and pushing him away from his parents and their high expectations.
Expect a similar understated, slow-burn vibe to movies such as Lost in Translation or Her – while Spa Night may not share much with these movies on the surface, its no-judgement look at a young man finding himself in the city, with left-of-centre cinematography, makes for a truly mesmerising 90 minutes.
Spa Night is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
Latecomers
For a groundbreaking look at sex and disability that’s also funny at the same time, look no further than SBS Digital Originals series Latecomers. Frank (Angus Thompson) and Sarah (Hannah Diviney) both have cerebral palsy, and are brought together when two of their carers take them to a bar and ditch them to hook up. As they meet each other’s social circles, they find themselves entangled in messy webs of sex, romance, and friendship.
Latecomers pulls off an impressive feat of being both tender-hearted, in showing its characters’ need for genuine human connection while also bringing in some classically crass and silly Aussie humour (in the best possible way).
Latecomers season 1 is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
Crash
This adaptation of the J.G. Ballard novel by the same name is easily one of Canadian body horror king David Cronenberg’s most iconic films. Filmmaker James Ballard (played by a marvellously distant and creepy James Spader) and his wife Catherine (Deborah Kara Unger) are suffering from a dull sex life, until the moment when James gets in a car crash, sparking a strangely erotic interest in violent, high-speed accidents. He falls in with a group of folk with a like-minded interest, and finds himself constantly raising the stakes in the search for his next arousing encounter.
The mishmash of sex and violence makes Crash a challenging watch for more sensitive viewers (it was booed at the Cannes Film Festival upon its release) but there’s a good reason it’s been reappraised as a masterpiece: It’s a masterful examination of the collision of sex and violence, and the lengths people will go to for an erotic thrill. The minimalist dialogue and bleak suburban Toronto setting only adds to the film’s tense yet oddly alluring atmosphere. (Take note: this 1996-made Crash is not to be confused with the 2004 movie by the same name, or Dutch doco-drama series The Crash, also streaming .)
Crash is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Crash
drama • 1996
drama • 1996
End of the Century
Your typical romance movie gets a shake-up with this queer love story that asks some major “what if?” questions. Argentinian Ocho (Juan Barberini) and Spaniard Javi (Ramón Pujol) have a chance encounter in Barcelona that turns into a whirlwind holiday romance – but the pair eventually realise that they’ve met 20 years ago when they were both in the closet. But that doesn’t mean a relationship is on the table, as one is now happily married, while the other lives on another continent.
In a poignant yet upbeat film, director Lucio Castro uses flashbacks to add bittersweet layers to this hypnotic story. The result is the kind of movie that invites you in, and has you asking “what would I do?”
End of the Century is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
A Very Ordinary World
This spirited French dramedy will make sure you never think about the adult film industry the same way again. Baby-faced 18-year-old Romain (Jérémy Gillet) gets into the world of porn not for money or lust, but to “piss off everybody” in the world around him, adopting the clichéd stage name “Buck Love”. But in between weirdly un-sexy shoots and the reactions he draws once he starts getting recognised, his expectations are thoroughly shattered.
Drawing on director in the porn world, it’s a realistic peek behind the curtain, with plenty of heart and a few laughs as fish-out-of-water Romain tries to navigate his bold new career choice.
A Very Ordinary World season 1 is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
Stream free On Demand
A Very Ordinary World
series • drama • French
M
series • drama • French
M
Belle de Jour
If you thought vintage films were inevitably sexless, buttoned-up affairs, 1967’s Belle de Jour will quickly change your mind. Well-to-do Séverine (played by the alluring Catherine Deneuve) harbours many a risqué S&M fantasy, yet fails to get intimate with her husband. So she finds herself frequenting an upscale brothel to fulfil her needs – but as a sex worker.
With avant-garde filmmaker Luis Buñuel in the director’s chair, it’s also a visual treat, with vivid colour and a dreamlike atmosphere that perfectly fits Belle de Jour’s thoughtful and lightly humorous examination of sexual drives and transgressions. It’s the kind of movie that’ll have you wondering: How far would you go for pleasure?
Belle de Jour is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
Sexual Drive
It turns out that a movie can be highly erotic without featuring a single sex scene – case in point, Sexual Drive. A trio of Japanese white-collar workers are suffering from anxieties related to sex, love, and their own mental health, and all of them are forced to reckon with their issues when visited by an odd man named Kurita (Tateto Serizawa).
Sexual Drive is one of those films that you shouldn’t watch for a neatly wrapped-up story, but rather for the sensory experience. There are a lot of metaphors here (and they’re expertly translated into English), with food often taking the place of sex, often introduced by Kurita. It’s truly an oddball tale of eroticism, in the best possible way.
Sexual Drive is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
