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“Yes, God, Yes” takes spot in the dark many years associated with the very very early ‘aughts, where AOL chat spaces provided teens with sketchy flirtation opportunities, and in the event that you had sexy urges whenever viewing a video clip you had to manually rewind again and again. Alice (Natalia Dyer) is an adolescent going to a strict Catholic college, along with her globe hasn’t ready her for the (perfectly natural) maelstrom of puberty. Her class that is sex-ed is with a priest. Posters abstinence that is promoting the hallways. Not just is intercourse before wedding forbidden, but masturbation is not permitted either. Alice takes most of this really, and it is really worried once the scene in “Titanic” (the only where Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio vapor up the motor vehicle) gets her engine running. Performs this she’s that is mean to hell? “Yes, God, Yes,” written and directed by Karen Maine, is a refreshing anomaly: a coming-of-age masturbation comedy about a teenage woman.

Maine takes Alice’s predicament really, but she keeps a light distance, all of the easier to lampoon the absurdities and hypocrisies of sex-phobic texting.

“Yes, God, Yes” is frank about intercourse, however it’s funny about intercourse too. Alice is really innocent that whenever up against a rumor concerning the intimate work she supposedly performed at a celebration, she’s to ask her friend that is best exactly what the word also means. (Her buddy does not understand.) She spends half the movie looking for what on earth she’s also been accused of. Afraid of getting to hell, she subscribes for the four-day retreat that is spiritual hosted by the institution. Graduates associated with the retreat stroll around in a blissed-out state, wearing sweatshirts that are matching and Alice desires whatever medication they’re on. Her really wants to crush her impure urges fly out of the window the next she finds the retreat and gets a glance at a teenage hunk known as Chris (Wolfgang Novogratz). She swoons simply from the glimpse at their hairy arm.

We continued a few of Catholic retreats in senior high school plus some associated with scenes in “Yes, God, Yes” made me cringe in recognition: the disarming friendliness, the novelty of seeing your classmates away from a college environment, the weirdness of speaking about severe topics along with your peers, the stress to cry when you’re “sharing” (it’s so strange, however it’s surely a “thing” that occurs on these retreats and Maine finger finger finger nails it). Mostly, however, those retreats were a hotbed of teenage love! “Yes, God, Yes” stocks some similarities with movies about children getting conversion that is“gay” (“But I’m a Cheerleader,” “Boy Erased,” “The Miseducation of Cameron Post”), especially in the scenes showing repressed uptight grownups shame teens for having completely normal feelings. Maine keeps a light touch throughout. She discovers these grownups people that are absurd pathologize intercourse maybe maybe perhaps not since the Bible tells them therefore, but since they on their own have actually unresolved problems around sex.

“Yes, God, Yes” began as being a brief movie, therefore the feature is Maine’s debut as being a manager. She additionally co-wrote 2014’s “Obvious youngster,” an extremely funny character research with a few sharp insights in regards to the unruliness of women’s bodies. Maine features a good feel for comedic rhythm there’s one particular cut that nearly made me laugh away noisy and she’s actually great at finding those peaceful moments whenever big interior shifts occur. A standout scene is Alice’s random encounter having an older lesbian (beautifully played by Susan Blackwell), where Alice understands the very first time that there’s a huge globe available to you, being a grown-up doesn’t suggest you need to be an uptight hypocrite. You may be whole, you will be free.

It is baffling that “Yes, God, Yes” was saddled by having an R score. There’s no nudity, no tough language, absolutely nothing exploitative or racy. This really is a sweet film that is sincere a woman getting all twisted up due to the mixed messages handed down to her. There’s nothing right right right here that could surprise a teen. To the contrary: there clearly was much here that will state to a teenage woman: “You probably think you’re on it’s own in feeling like this. Very good news: you’re maybe maybe not.”

Available these days in virtual cinemas and drive-ins that are select available on electronic and VOD on July 28. Sheila O’Malley received a BFA in Theatre through the University of Rhode Island and a Master’s in Acting through the Actors Studio MFA Program. Read her responses to your film like Questionnaire here.