Sex to tickle fancy
Josh Lawson had a simple mission when he set out to make his unconventional rom-com The Little Death: to give the Australian public a good laugh - and encourage them not to take sex so seriously.
"We don't make films like this in Australia very often," says the 33-year-old Brisbane-born actor over the phone from Sydney while in the middle of promotional duties for his directorial debut.
"There are so many dramas that when a comedy comes out we are ready to laugh.
"This film is like a glass of water at the end of a trek through the desert."
The Little Death is a bold choice of film for Lawson, who also wrote and stars in the multi-narrative feature about five ordinary couples who harbour a variety of secret desires and the lengths they will go to for that fleeting moment of sexual ecstasy the French call la petite mort.
There's Maeve (Bojana Novakovic) who yearns to be raped by her sweet and devoted husband Paul (Lawson); Phil (Alan Dukes) who starts an affair - with his own wife Maureen (Lisa McCune) - and Evie and Dan (Kate Mulvany and Damon Herriman) who take to role-playing to add some spice to their relationship.
Meanwhile, Rowena (Kate Box) gets aroused watching her husband Richard (Patrick Brammall) cry while the sweet Monica (Erin James), who works as a translator for the deaf via a video call service, winds up facilitating a hook-up with a sex line for one of her customers.
Weaving their stories together is new neighbour Steve (Kim Gyngell), who, upon introducing himself, also happens to mention he is on the sex offenders' register.
That the film tackles such controversial subjects is part of the reason it took six years - and a fair few knockbacks - to get to the big screen.
However, while Lawson admits there are scenes that are challenging and confronting, he believes it's part of the reason The Little Death has garnered such a positive response from audiences at preview screenings across the country.
"I knew a lot of the laughs would come from relief," says Lawson, who is best known for his TV work on Sea Patrol and the US political drama House of Lies and films including Any Questions for Ben?, Anchorman 2 and The Campaign.
"That's OK, you are allowed to be challenged in a movie. Imagine if you weren't. It would be so much less fun. And I was pretty unapologetic about it. I really believed it wasn't offensive.
"Did I think the subject matter was daring? Of course. But I wouldn't have been able to write it if I thought I was going to offend someone because that's not the kind of person I am.
"I have, however, always wanted to be unique and original and, in order to do that here, I had to tackle some subjects you don't normally get to tackle in films.
"I am confident I tackled it in a way that is respectful and funny and that is also in a way really romantic and sweet."
While not quite going down the Richard Curtis road to making a rom-com, Lawson has managed to deliver a film that while frank also has a great deal of heart.
For all the bawdy sex talk, it's also a tale, says Lawson, of morals, normality, monogamy, relationships, love and deceit.
He is even hoping The Little Death convinces Australians not to take sex so seriously.
"It's a normal function of the human body and for that reason I don't necessarily think there is any risque material in the story - subject to what others may believe," he says. "Sometimes (the film) does take sex to a silly, funny place but other times I think it takes it very seriously.
"Sex can be sad too - not having it or lying to the person you have it with. Sex is a very complicated thing - it conjures emotions that no other activity can - and I think to put it in one box would be to misunderstand sex altogether."
With many storylines unresolved, the film lends itself to a sequel. Lawson is thinking that way, though it all comes back down to how the film performs at the box office.
