In Mikko Mäkelä’s new feature Sebastian, a tender story of intimacy and self-discovery unfolds in London’s queer undercurrents. But beneath the surface lies a timely portrait of how younger generations are reshaping attitudes toward sex, sex work, and identity in the digital age, writes Benjamin Wilson.
Listen to an interview with Mikko Mäkelä on At the Pictures, available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
In contrast to older, more moralistic portrayals, Sebastian captures a more fluid and nuanced reality—one where DIY video content, hookup culture, and transactional relationships are increasingly viewed without taboo.
“I never wanted to question the validity of sex work as a profession,” says Mäkelä. “But I also didn’t want to glamorise it. It was important that the film be sex-positive and sex work-positive.” That balance—frank and unsentimental, yet open-minded—anchors the film’s quiet power. As we follow Max, a writer-turned-sex worker navigating the blurring boundaries between work, pleasure, and human connection, “Sebastian” presents encounters not as moral dilemmas, but as complex cultural exchanges.
Mäkelä notes that digital platforms like Grindr and OnlyFans have radically transformed the landscape. “The threshold for going into sex work is much lower than it used to be,” he explains. “It’s become almost like another job in London’s gig economy.” This shift, he argues, has enabled many—particularly within the queer community—to operate with more autonomy and agency than previous generations of sex workers.
What emerges is a depiction of sex work that eschews stereotypes. Clients, too, are shown in a softer light, not as exploiters but as individuals seeking connection, often shaped by loneliness and emotional vulnerability. “Those encounters can really become sites for cultural exchange,” Mäkelä reflects.
Sebastian is, at heart, a coming-of-age story. But it is also a mirror held up to a society in transition, where the lines between sex, self-expression, and labour are being redrawn—and where shame, secrecy, and respectability are no longer the gatekeepers they once were. In its candid, elegant way, the film reminds us that in modern urban life, sex can be just another thread in the fabric of identity.
Sebastian is released in selected cinemas across the UK on the 4th of April.
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