Gregg Araki, the veteran queer film-maker, has released his 12th feature, I Want Your Sex, a provocative comedy exploring desire and power that he describes as fundamentally queer despite its heterosexual central relationship. The film marks a milestone for the 66-year-old director, who has spent four decades making anarchic, boundary-pushing cinema, as it opens on 700 US screens, a notably wide release for an independent film and one that suggests Hollywood has finally caught up with his sensibility.

The story follows a young graduate, played by Cooper Hoffman, who becomes sexually and creatively enthralled by a domineering artist, played by Olivia Wilde, with a cast that also includes Charli xcx, Johnny Knoxville and Margaret Cho. Araki explained the project began years earlier as a more conventional tale of a male boss seducing a female intern, but he reworked it after the #MeToo movement made him uneasy with its power dynamics, ultimately flipping the roles so a woman dominates a male submissive. He also drew on a 2022 study suggesting Gen Z are having less sex than previous generations, using the film to champion "queer joy and positivity" amid what he calls a repressive and troubled world.