Sugar Cookies

Sugar Cookies really raises itself above your standard 70’s sleaze. This is a well-shot movie with a genuinely interesting psychosexual dynamic between its leads. But don’t worry, there’s still tits aplenty as well.

The two leads in Sugar Cookies are Max (George Shannon) and Camila (Mary Woronov). The two are long-term partners in business and pleasure. Camila finds girls for Max and sometimes joins in as well. The film begins with Max playing a sex game with Alta (Lynn Lowry), a partner of whom he is particularly fond. But Max’s rather intense sex game involves a loaded gun and Alta dies. So, he sends Camila out to find a replacement. Camila stumbles upon the perfect girl. The naive Julie (also Lynn Lowry) is a dead ringer for Alta. So, Camila spends her time moulding the innocent Julie into the perfect gift for Max, a living Alta with whom he can redo the events on night of her death.

When I see something psychosexual, I want it to be 100% psycho and maybe 75% sexual. Most movies tend to favour the sexual half and I’m left disappointed. Sugar Cookies has a lot more focus on this insane relationship dynamic than I was expected. And that’s why I like the movie so much. The way writer/director Theodore Gershuny fits in both story and titillation into the film is genius in its simplicity. Have as much character revealing dialogue as you want, just have one of the actresses be topless during the scene. Brilliant! Now there is the visual interest for those looking for softcore but also dialogue to explore its characters and get at the psycho part of the psychosexual equation.

In addition to a story that is both present and pretty good, Gershuny’s directing also helps elevate the subject matter. His shots obviously have a lot of topless women. But it’s not the be all, end all of his camera’s focus. Nudity is certainly one priority in Sugar Cookies, but not the only one. Set design, camera angles and editing still factor in to Gershuny’s creation. There’s also a notably fucked up and well-edited sequence that marries sex and death. The film cuts between Alta’s autopsy and Camila and Max having sex. The autopsy stuff is genuinely disturbing. And unless Gershuny’s really fucked up, there’s more artistic merit here than just what’s sexy. See? Sugar Cookies has themes and shit! Like a real movie!

Ultimately, all this makes Sugar Cookies just a really fun movie. It’s obviously not high art, but it’s not something I felt gross for watching. The story here is genuinely engaging and the ending is crazy. The film really benefited from my low expectations. This is probably one of the best psychosexual WLW films I’ve seen. It is sexy, psychological and most importantly, pretty fucked up. Gershuny takes an ultimately simple but very weird relationship dynamic and executes it really well. Sugar Cookies is fucked up and fun in equal measure. And I’d like to see more movies not just with similar plot but similar quality in its execution.

Overall rating: 6.9/10

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