Location: Cinestudio (US, 2012) Written and directed by Ben Lewin, based on the article by Mark O’Brien. Cast: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy, Vera Moon Bloodgood, Rhea Perlman. In 1990, childhood polio survivor Mark O’Brian wrote an article about hiring a sex therapist to help him lose his virginity. Director Ben Lewin is faithful to O’Brian’s intent, presenting sex as it rarely seen on the big screen: frank, funny, and tender. John Hawkes, who has tapped into the dark side to play a cult leader (Martha Marcy May Marlene) and a meth addict (Winter’s Bone) takes on the role of a man who is insecure but nervy, disabled but refusing to be defined by physical limitations. In the six sessions he has with a sex therapist (fearlessly played by Helen Hunt), she gives him permission to claim his identity as a sexual being. “The Sessions is a pleasant shock: a touching, profoundly sex-positive film that equates sex with intimacy, and emotional connection instead of performance, competition and conquest.” Stephen Holden, New York Times.  95 min  http://www.thes​essionsmovie.co​m