This can be a sweet honest movie about a woman getting all twisted up due to the blended communications passed on to her.

Now streaming on:

“Yes, God, Yes” takes destination in the dark many years of this very early ‘aughts, where AOL chat spaces provided teenagers with sketchy flirtation opportunities, and in the event that you had sexy urges whenever viewing a video clip you needed to manually rewind over and over again. Alice (Natalia Dyer) is a teen going to a strict Catholic college, along with her world has not yet ready her for the (perfectly natural) maelstrom of puberty. Her class that is sex-ed is by way of a priest. Posters abstinence that is promoting the hallways. Not merely is intercourse before wedding forbidden, but masturbation is not permitted either. Alice takes each of this really, and it is certainly concerned once the scene in “Titanic” (the main one where Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio vapor within the vehicle) gets her engine running. Performs this mean she’s going to hell? “Yes, God, Yes,” written and directed by Karen Maine, is really a refreshing anomaly: a coming-of-age masturbation comedy about a teenage woman.

Maine takes Alice’s predicament seriously, but she maintains a light distance, most of the far better to lampoon the absurdities and hypocrisies of sex-phobic texting.

“Yes, God, Yes” is frank about intercourse, but it’s funny about sex too. Alice can be so innocent that after up against a rumor concerning the intimate work she supposedly performed at a celebration, she’s got to ask her closest friend exactly exactly what the expression even means. (Her buddy does not understand.) She spends half the movie looking for what on earth she’s also been accused of. Afraid of getting to hell, she subscribes for the four-day retreat that is spiritual hosted by the institution. Graduates associated with the retreat stroll around in a blissed-out state, wearing matching sweatshirts, and Alice wants whatever medication they’re on. Her wants to crush her urges that are impure out of the window the 2nd she gets to the retreat and gets a look at a teenage hunk known as Chris (Wolfgang Novogratz). She swoons just from the glimpse at their hairy arm.

We proceeded a few of Catholic retreats in senior school plus some associated with the scenes in “Yes, Jesus, Yes” made me cringe in recognition: the disarming friendliness, the novelty of seeing your classmates away from a college setting, the weirdness of referring to serious topics along with your peers, the stress to cry when“sharing that is you’re (it’s so strange, however it’s certainly a “thing” that takes place on these retreats and Maine nails it). Mostly, though, those retreats were a hotbed of teenage relationship! “Yes, God, Yes” stocks some similarities with movies about young ones getting conversion that is“gay” (“But I’m a Cheerleader,” “Boy Erased,” “The Miseducation of Cameron Post”), especially in the scenes showing repressed uptight grownups shame teens for having perfectly normal feelings. Maine keeps a touch that is light. She finds these grownups ridiculous individuals who pathologize intercourse maybe not due to the fact Bible informs them therefore, but simply because they on their own have actually unresolved problems around sex.

“Yes, God, Yes” began being a brief movie, therefore the feature is Maine’s debut being a director. She additionally co-wrote 2014’s child that is“Obvious” a rather funny character study with a few razor- razor- sharp insights in regards to the unruliness of women’s bodies. Maine possesses feel that is good comedic rhythm there’s one particular cut that nearly made me laugh down noisy and this woman is actually great at finding those peaceful moments whenever big interior changes happen. A standout scene is Alice’s random encounter by having an older lesbian (beautifully played by Susan Blackwell), where Alice understands the very first time that there’s a large world on the market, being a grown-up does not suggest you need to be an uptight hypocrite. You may be entire, you may be free.

It is baffling that “Yes, God, Yes” was saddled having an R score. There’s no nudity https://datingperfect.net/dating-sites/dominatrix-dating-reviews-comparison, no language that is tough absolutely absolutely nothing exploitative or racy. That is a sweet film that is sincere a woman getting all twisted up because of the blended messages handed down to her. There’s nothing right here that will surprise a teen. Quite the opposite: there clearly was much right here that will state up to a teenage woman: “You probably think you’re on it’s own in feeling like this. Very good news: you’re perhaps not.”

Available these days in virtual cinemas and drive-ins that are select available on electronic and VOD on July 28. Sheila O’Malley received a BFA in Theatre through the University of Rhode Island and a Master’s in Acting through the Actors Studio MFA Program. Read her responses to your film like Questionnaire right here.