My Awkward Sexual Adventure

In this Canadian comedy written by and starring Jonas Chernick, Jordan is a conservative, orderly, boring accountant. The night before a holiday on which he intends to propose, his girlfriend Rachel leaves him, and her reason is plain: he knows nothing in bed. To win her back he devises a plan and starts taking lessons from Julia, a stripper played by Emily Hampshire. The template is familiar and the film does not hide it: teacher and pupil, lessons worked through as a list, unexpected closeness at the end. What separates it is the decision to put the embarrassment on the audience rather than on Jordan; most scenes are built on a cringing realism rather than on laughs. Julia's own problem, debt and the accounting help she needs, keeps the exchange from running one way. Sean Garrity directed. It screened at the Toronto film festival on 8 September 2012. Who it is for: viewers who like small-scale Canadian comedy and humour built on embarrassment. Who it is not for: anyone uncomfortable with explicit sexual content, or hoping for something outside the genre's shape.