Watch: John Hawkes Nervously Meets His Sex Surrogate In New Clip From 'The Sessions'

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by Simon Dang
August 28, 2012 11:39 AM
2 Comments

After the debut of a hearty and warm trailer for Ben Lewin's "The Sessions," we now have a new clip from the Sundance sensation, which stars John Hawkes as real-life figure Mark O'Brien, a man afflicted by polio who was confined to an iron lung for the most of his life, who embarks on a journey to lose his virginity.

The footage depicts the awkward, funny first meeting between Hawkes' O'Brien and his sex surrogate, played by Helen Hunt, with this type of kinda-risque comedy littered throughout. While it works well here, the film too often plays like an average teen sex comedy resorting to broad laughs. The film does have better moments, though, at times drawing from where sex, love and disability fascinatingly meet with Hawkes delivering a sublime performance as he navigates through the immense physical, mental and emotional aspects of the role.

Our review from Sundance shared similar less-than-impressed thoughts, noting that the film was "at best talky and static...films like 'The Sea Inside' or 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' have put paralyzed protagonists in the palaces of their memory and imagination, free to roam...'The Surrogate' lacks those things, but it does look, with real intelligence and humanity, at the way sex can, and must, be part of a life lived independently, and is less a cause for shame than a way to explore who we are." The film hits theaters on October 26th. [Yahoo]

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More: The Sessions, Ben Lewin, John Hawkes, Helen Hunt

2 Comments

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jingmei | August 28, 2012 9:56 PMReply

This is a damn good film. And thanks for mentioning The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
Tom | August 28, 2012 11:47 AMReply

Looks like Helen Hunt got a facelift.