Chemsex

Shot over the course of a year, filmmakers William Fairman and Max Gogarty's Chemsex interviews a number of gay men in London who participate in an underground scene featuring sexual hookups (often facilitated by phone apps), dungeon-like orgy settings, and the use of crystal meth and other recreational, intravenous drugs. Some young gay men swear that the drugs make sex a more thrilling experience, while the element of unprotected intercourse with multiple partners over the course of an evening or weekend—in a bondage and S&M atmosphere—excites them in its tempting of fate. Many here actually deliberately court becoming HIV-positive (or already are) as a way of getting over anxiety about the disease, or they take an extreme “advocacy” position about AIDS that largely denies its existence (others, however, are frightened by their situation and can't find their way out of addiction). The men here are, for the most part, quite likable, and many will be hard-pressed to understand why they put themselves though such danger. The most compelling figure, however, is a healthcare worker who has a deep understanding of what is happening to these men (some of whom are his clients) and how that figures into the gay community's unresolved trauma surrounding AIDS. The film is graphic—both in terms of sex and drug use—but it offers a disturbing look at a particular psychosexual phenomenon. Recommended for more adventurous collections. (T. Keogh)