The Erectionman

Documentary Feature, SX Global
D: Michael Schaap; with Schaap, Irwin Goldstein, Chip Rowe

This jaunty little film owes much of its appeal to its narrator, Dutch director Schaap, whose confessional style and general goofiness bring levity to an awkward topic: “erectile dysfunction” and the little blue pill that treats it. At age 40, Schaap wonders “why I need a pill that I thought was meant for my father.” His meandering search for answers takes him to, among other places, the offices of Playboy magazine, the backwoods retreat of a group of men reuniting with their masculinity, and the front door of Viagra producer Pfizer (they don’t let him in). Schaap touches on a variety of hot-button issues, including marketing schemes that target ever younger men, the popularity of the black market, and the effect of the drug on relationships and the psyche. This approach, though not wholly satisfying academically, sheds light on a topic begging for exploration and establishes a much-needed counterweight to a public discourse dominated by the sterilized lexicon of Big Pharma “sexologists.”

Thursday, March 18, 10:15pm, Lamar 3

This article appears in March 19 • 2010.

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