Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

The Sessions
2012
***½
Director: Ben Lewin
Cast: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy, Moon Bloodgood, Annika Marks, Adam Arkin, Rhea Perlman, W. Earl Brown, Robin Weigert

The polio-stricken poet Mark O'Brien, who can only move his head, spends most of his days in an iron lung. Now approaching the late 30s, O'Brien hires a sex surrogate to help him lose his virginity, but he is unprepared for the emotional impact the sessions will have on him. Ben Lewin's fact-based feelgood comedy was adapted from O'Brien's article On Seeing a Sex Surrogate. The story is unusual but somewhat formulaic, and some of the characters seem too good to be true, namely the Catholic priest played by William H. Macy. Nevertheless, the performances are uniformly great and the film provides solid though-provoking entertainment for 90 minutes.