Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on December 2013

A 38-year-old polio-paralyzed Berkeley poet with a droll sense of humor decides that he wants to lose his virginity before he hits his “sell-by” date, and engages a sex therapist (Helen Hunt). This heartwarming film treats the subject of sex for the disabled with a rare explicitness and honesty, tenderness and humor. No emotional button-pushing. Hunt is at her most engaging, but the focus is on the versatile John Hawkes. Is this really the same actor who played the scary uncle in Winter’s Bone? William H. Macy’s Catholic confessor serves mainly to save us from a continuous expository voiceover. Just see it. (91 min)