May 3, 2021 | Arts / Entertainment

Gay man goes to extremes to avoid sex in "Straight Up"

If you're looking for something "gay" to watch, Netflix might have what you need with its 2020 release, Straight Up.

The premise is unique. The main character, Todd, is a twenty-something man with OCD and an intense aversion to bodily fluids. And though he likes men, an attempt at oral sex proves too much for him. (And anal sex is completely off the table!)

His solution: date a woman. He meets Rory, and the two agree to a relationship without sex. Todd's friends accuse him on internalized homophobia, and the couple finds out the perfect arrangement is not as good as it seems.

James Sweeney wrote, produced, directed the film. He also stars in it. He said Straight Up, though unconventional, is a true love story.

He said:

"If you think it’s not a love story, maybe the film should challenge what the idea of love is. Even the idea of romantic love, because there’s more than one type of love, but specifically the idea of romantic love is a relatively modern concept and especially the western notion of what that love is, is part of what inspired the concept of the film.

"Here are these two people, Todd and Rory, who click each other’s boxes in so many ways except for this big box known as sex. Can you not love somebody because you don’t have sex with them? I’m not trying to answer that question for all people or make a statement of what love is, because that’s not for me to say. Everybody has their own relationship with love."

Some may find the concept of the film a little unsettling or problematic. However, it has been praised by critics, and won several honors since being released.

It was the Breakthrough Centerpiece at the 2019 Outfest and it won the Grand Jury Award at the 2019 San Diego Asian Film Festival.

"[Straight Up] is really about a generation of people who have discovered a new way to connect through their detachment," wrote Owen Gleiberman for Variety. "A little of this can go a long way (the film is sometimes a bit airless), but James Sweeney is a filmmaker with the rare ability to toss antically inspired dialogue right off the edge of his brain. 'Straight Up' is the work of a startling talent."