\u201cI think of this movie as being a sex-positive love letter to Gen Z,\u201d Araki says. \u201cIt\u2019s not meant to be a lecture or telling anybody what to do \u2013 because God knows Gen Z hates to be told what to do. The Erika Tracy character is very much a spokesperson for me. Because she\u2019s an artist who is controversial and provocative and one who deals in sex and sexuality, very much, as I do. I really relate to that character, at least to aspects of her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Erika, though awful in many ways, is a convincing Gen X sexual evangelist. Elliot exhibits the same guilty terror of the act that we saw from Kenneth Williams (born 100 years ago) in the ancient Carry On comedies. Funny old world.<\/p>\n
\u201cElliot does a very eloquent job of describing where Gen Z is coming from,\u201d Araki says. \u201cBecause they come from a very specific place. They grew up during Covid. They always had a phone in their hands. Social media is 10 times worse than it ever has been. They\u2019re constantly being videotaped. They have helicopter parents who protect them from anything that makes them uncomfortable. I think that contributes to what is called the sex recession.\u201d<\/p>\n
Who knows where the time goes? It is hard not to still think of Araki \u2013 a lean Japanese-American Los Angeleno \u2013 as tribune of a daring new generation. A graduate of the University of Southern California\u2019s School of Cinematic Arts, he made his feature debut as long as 1987 with the funky no-budget flick Three Bewildered People in the Night. The Living End, the story of two HIV-positive men on a troubled road trip, arrived at Sundance in 1992 to strong reviews. Araki has been in critical focus ever since. His movies are daring. They rarely cost much. They are usually on gay themes. He has been an inspiration through four decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor my generation, for older generations, sex, sexuality, dating, love, relationships, all of it … It\u2019s been my whole life,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s who I am. It\u2019s what my art is about. I\u2019ve been talking on this press tour about when I was 19 or 20 years old and snuck out to a gay bar for the first time. I didn\u2019t tell my family or my friends. It was secret. It was my dark secret. But that was probably the most important step I\u2019d ever taken in my life journey. If I had not done that I don\u2019t even know who I would be today or where I would be.\u201d<\/p>\n
He makes that seem like a revelation, but he is keen to qualify the experience.<\/p>\n
![\"Director](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/EIZRVI2W7VEATCYKJ7ZUA3CPRI.jpg\")
Director Gregg Araki on the set of I Want Your Sex. Photograph: Magnolia Pictures <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very scary at the time and very confusing,\u201d Araki continues. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t like instantly my life was changed and everything was wonderful. It was a lot of confusion and trauma. It wasn\u2019t fun. There was nothing about it that was pleasant. It was just part of my journey. Because we\u2019re older, we can look back. It\u2019s like so much of my sex-slash-love life has has been traumatic, has been devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n
That makes sense in the context of the then-emerging New Queer Cinema. We are talking about darkish films such as Todd Haynes\u2019s Poison, Tom Kalin\u2019s Swoon and Araki\u2019s own The Living End. Gus Van Sant\u2019s more starry My Own Private Idaho also spent time in the larger New Queer tent. The filmmakers were, of course, driven by trauma in the wake of the Aids epidemic and the US government\u2019s unsatisfactory response to that crisis. But such catch-all labels are always reductive. Was it really a movement? Did he ever resent the notion they were all coming from exactly the same place?<\/p>\n
\u201cLike we were all together just plotting the future of cinema?\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cWhen I was younger, I maybe felt a little bit pigeonholed by it. But in retrospect, I am so honoured and thrilled to be considered a part of it all. Because it was a very important moment in film history. I do think if it wasn\u2019t recognised as a movement, it would have had much less impact on the culture. I feel there was safety in numbers. There was this whole group of movies, and we\u2019re all viewed as part of this same cultural shift.\u201d<\/p>\n
[\u00a050 films to see in 2026: Dune and Toy Story 5 among big releasesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n
![\"Olivia](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TDCAUBIAKBE6ZJCQUBINMTQTLU.jpg\")
Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman in I Want Your Sex <\/p>\n