Short film Fuck Buddies is icky, sad, and surprisingly terrifying

By Joe Blevins | February 15, 2016 | 8:59pm

Aux Features Film

It all starts as fun and games. Ellie (Sharon Belle) and Joseph (Alexander Plouffe) are friends and roommates who both happen to enjoy Vincent Price movies, Pachelbel’s Canon in D-major, burnt eggs, and quick, aerobic bouts of sex with each other. But it’s all strictly platonic. No labels. No commitments. Just a little fun. What could possibly go wrong? A 20-minute, profoundly NSFW short film called Fuck Buddies, written and directed by Nate Wilson, spells out in graphic detail exactly what goes wrong and how. The answer turns out to be more supernatural/otherworldly than Ellie, Joseph, or the audience may have guessed. There are also a great many fluids involved. Made in Toronto but not thematically tied to any particular locale, Fuck Buddies has been making the rounds at film festivals of late, and now the entire film has been uploaded to Vimeo. Adventurous viewers are advised to give it a chance, provided they are not squeamish. In a way, the film feels like an outgrowth of David Lynch’s Eraserhead, a movie that also used the mechanics of human sexual reproduction as an occasion for damp, squishy horror.

In describing his own, odd film, Wilson is earnest:

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By treating the consequences of sex in a serious way within the context of a horror movie, I hoped to explore the idea of biological purpose fighting back against human concepts of sexual safety and freedom. My intentions were always to hop around tonally to tell the story, but to never pull the rug out from underneath the audience – as in, I never wanted the film to maintain one style or genre long enough for the audience to ever think they’re watching “this kind of movie” or “that kind of movie.”

The key phrase here is “the consequences of sex.” That’s really what Fuck Buddies is about. Committing to a partner and having children can mean a loss of autonomy, independence, and even identity. This is what preys on the minds and souls of the two lead characters, especially the film’s deeply troubled heroine. Ultimately, the “fuck buddies” must decide what their relationship means and how far they are willing to go in order to fulfill what seems to be their destiny.

FUCK BUDDIES from Nate Wilson on Vimeo.