“I Want Your Sex”

And keeping with the sex theme: It’s been 12 years since Gregg Araki made his last film, “White Bird in a Blizzard,” a competently done mystery and something of a restrained effort compared to his gloriously gonzo, queer-leaning, desperado films of the 1990s (“Totally F***ed Up,” “The Doom Generation” and “The Living End”). The good news of “I Want Your Sex” is that the master of irreverent cinema is back and in boundary-pushing form. We begin with shades of “Sunset Boulevard,” as a young art assistant (Cooper Hoffman, “Licorice Pizza”) in boxers and with a bloody face stumbles out the sliding glass doors of a poolside bungalow to find his artist boss (Olivia Wilde) buck-naked and floating face down. From there, we rewind to the gallery, where Hoffman’s naïve and far-too-trusting Elliot is part of a merry band of art boys who line up, mouths masticating gobs of red gum with intense rapidity, and then attach their chewed wads to an inchoate mural of parted labia majora. The L.A.-based gallery is the muse hive of Erika Tracy (Wilde), a Koons kitsch pop artist of note — and also a high priestess of sexual deviancy, dressed in stylish S&M office wear with a blasé come-hither look ever etched on her face. She’s Cruella de Vil with a fetish laundry list. 

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In short, she makes a sex slave out of Elliot, who’s in a sexless relationship with his bookish girlfriend (Charli XCX). Anal probing (seemingly a cinematic trend these days, as evidenced by “Little Brother” and “The Invite,” also starring Wilde), spanking, and threesomes ensue. Through it all, Elliot looks like a lamb going to slaughter, but it’s hard to feel sorry for him. About that opening scene: the action is driven by detectives (Johnny Knoxville and Margaret Cho) trying to untangle what has taken place. If there’s any letdown to “Sex,” it’s that Araki and co-writer Karley Sciortino bumble the climax — the dark, raucous sex comedy goes too quietly into the night. The film, however, is a showcase for Wilde, who glides into the part with relish and vim without going over the top. It’s a piquant, antithetical spin from that other movie playing in theaters (“The Invite”) that she directed and plays a sex-starved San Francisco housewife. — Tom Meek

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Playing at Somerville Theater and Apple Cinemas.