An interview with the multidisciplinary artist Sook-Yin Lee and the cartoonist Chester Brown must begin with a few definitions, since the 海角社区官网duo defy easy categorization.
Lee鈥檚 sexually charged new movie, 鈥淧aying for It,鈥 which she directed and co-wrote and which is world premiering Friday at the 海角社区官网International Film Festival, is based on Brown鈥檚 bestselling 2011 graphic novel of the same name.
The abundantly bewhiskered Brown is the best friend of the raven-haired Lee, who’s also an actor, musician, broadcaster and former MuchMusic VJ.
For about four years in the early 1990s, Brown was Lee鈥檚 romantic partner when he was in his early 30s and she was in her 20s.
Then Lee announced she wanted to explore other romantic options, while Brown opted to hire sex workers to fulfil his physical needs. The two decided to keep living together in their brightly decorated but tiny Kensington Market row house, where Lee still lives. Brown moved to the basement while Lee lived (and loved) in the rooms upstairs.
鈥淚t never occurred to us to break up,鈥 Lee says in a new foreword to the recently reissued book. The film and novel document the emotional and logistical tumult, much of it funny but some of it not, that flowed from this unconventional domestic arrangement.
So does this make 鈥淧aying for It鈥 a docudrama, since actors Emily L锚 and Dan Beirne play Lee and Brown? 鈥淚 would say it鈥檚 a comedy drama or dramatic comedy,鈥 Lee says, as Brown sits by her side.
鈥淚t鈥檚 all based on what happened,鈥 he elaborates. 鈥淏ut of course, you鈥檙e fudging things a little bit because you can鈥檛 remember the dialogue exactly. I worked as close to what I remembered as possible, but you know, you鈥檙e trying to do an entertaining graphic novel.鈥
The character based on Lee is named Sonny rather than Sook-Yin because the director says she needed a bit of distance to assist her creative process.
Neither she nor Brown felt the need to change the name of his character. Brown even agreed to cameo in the film. He also contributed illustrations and titles; his hands are seen arranging them for the camera.
Chester Brown’s graphic novel “Paying for It” was published by Drawn & Quarterly in 2011.聽
Jayme Poisson 海角社区官网Star file photoReal sex workers in the film blur the lines further. One of Chester鈥檚 partners, Denise, is played by Andrea Werhun, the author of 鈥淢odern Whore: A Memoir,鈥 which is soon to be made into a movie executive produced by Sean Baker, the writer-director of 鈥淎nora鈥 (also screening at TIFF).
Lee also describes her film, her second feature this year (the experimental 鈥淩est and Relax鈥 premiered earlier this summer), as 鈥渁 double act of portraiture.鈥 But she wants it to be viewed as more than that.
鈥淭he movie is a lot about labour, and it鈥檚 about sex work, and it鈥檚 about queer rights, as Chester articulated so well in the graphic novel,鈥 she says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a whole kind of continuum of the parallel between sex worker rights, queer rights, and by extension, POC rights. There are very many human rights involved there.鈥
She compares 鈥淧aying for It鈥 to Richard Benner鈥檚 鈥淥utrageous!鈥 a dramedy of friendship in adversity starring Craig Russell as an aspiring drag queen and Hollis McLaren as a pregnant woman with schizophrenia. It鈥檚 a landmark Canadian film about mental health and LGBTQ+ rights that screened at TIFF 1977.
Chester Brown’s graphic novel was the basis for Sook-Yin Lee’s new film premiering at TIFF.
Nick Lachance 海角社区官网Star鈥淧aying for It鈥 is a distinctly 海角社区官网film by design and circumstance. Torontonians will recognize local landmarks, including Kensington Market, Spadina Avenue and Sneaky Dee鈥檚, the restaurant and live music venue on College Street where Sonny goes to check out new bands and new boyfriends. 鈥淟iterally, we shot in the house where the real-life events took place, including the basement, and also around the neighbourhood,鈥 Lee says.
鈥淭he funny thing is, I think our place was a brothel at one point, because people keep knocking at the door and asking if ‘Lips’ still works here.鈥
Sex is, of course, a big part of 鈥淧aying for It,鈥 and Lee didn鈥檛 shy away from depicting it. There is full-frontal nudity and realistic intimate encounters, which is what you might expect from a filmmaker who engaged in unsimulated sex in John Cameron Mitchell鈥檚 erotic dramedy 鈥淪hortbus.鈥 (Mitchell is an executive producer of 鈥淧aying for It.鈥)
For Lee, the sex and nudity in 鈥淧laying for It鈥 is neither gratuitous nor excessive. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really just the human form in its nakedness,鈥 she says. 鈥淎s you would see in National Geographic magazine: a man wakes up, scratches his balls, walks across the room to get a book from the shelf, and you see his penis. It鈥檚 not fabulous, it鈥檚 not romanticized. It鈥檚 extremely natural. It鈥檚 not intended for sensationalism or to get you off or anything. It鈥檚 the human form.鈥
The film鈥檚 emotional nakedness, Lee and Brown both concede, was much rawer, as they acknowledge hurting each other more by accident than design. Sonny keeps bringing new men home while Chester is there, and Chester violates a promise to not invite sex workers into the house.
All these years later, Lee and Brown still consider themselves best friends, ones with a better appreciation of what it takes to maintain any kind of personal bond.
鈥淲e definitely had arguments,鈥 Brown says.
Adds Lee: 鈥淚n real life, I was making a lot of mistakes and getting myself into all kinds of situations. And, as in the movie, we were unable to break up.
鈥淲e鈥檙e each other鈥檚 family. So what began as 鈥極h, let鈥檚 open the relationship鈥 evolved into this other thing.鈥
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