‘Sex’ Review: Masculinity Loosens Up in the First Chapter of Dag Johan Haugerud’s Arthouse Trilogy

variety.com:

Guy Lodge Film Critic The old maxim that men have only one thing on their minds gets an expansive corrective in Dag Johan Haugerud‘s “Sex” — the very title of which cheekily misdirects us with its blunt simplicity.

Sex certainly comes up early and often in this playful, intricately nuanced character study, but in consistently surprising, stereotype-averse ways.

Following two straight male co-workers as they open up to each other about recent experiences that have challenged their own sexual and gender identities, Haugerud’s sly comedy addresses various crises of modern masculinity with a light, humane touch, finding more curiosity than toxicity in its workaday characters — and making a case for seemingly aberrant desires and impulses as an everyday fact of life.

With its loosely discursive quality — it’s clear Haugerud was a novelist before he turned to filmmaking — and measured, good-humored approach to subject matter usually treated with more heated, heightened drama on screen, “Sex” aptly sets the tone for the director’s trilogy of films examining human relationships and intimacy in modern Norway.