What to watch: Olivia Wilde is wonderfully inappropriate in ‘I Want Your Sex’

A raunchy sex comedy from Gregg Araki starring Olivia Wilde, a character-driven crime thriller set in San Francisco, and a filmmaking great’s gentle “Frankenstein-esque” drama about the relationship between grieving parents and a humanoid boy top our reviews this week — all are worth your time.

Here’s our roundup.

“I Want Your Sex”: The schism over generational attitudes towards sex clash to raunchy, radical effect in disruptor filmmaker Gregg Araki’s latest acutely aware-of-the-times comedy. Almost all of Araki’s films have defined a particular era’s rebellious youthful spirit, but his latest in 12 years, scolds a younger generation who considers sex an intrusion, even a nuisance but it also ribs the opposite, the robust frisky, fetish-full sexual appetites of the carefree and liberated. Sexually inert Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) gets his freak on when he nabs a job as an assistant and kinky playtoy for artist/gallery owner Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde), an HR nightmare who brings all sorts of sex toys out to play. Elliot’s uninterested, workaholic girlfriend (Charli XCX) endures sex with him and soon Elliot’s having sex not just with her but is even getting pimped out by Erika. The outrageous sex scenes are hysterical, funny and push that R rating right against the wall while the supporting cast – Oakland native Daveed Diggs pops in as an eye-rolling, put-upon employee of Erika’s as do Chase Sui Wonders as Elliot’s lesbian-in-denial sidekick and Mason Gooding as Elliot’s gay, extra-horny coworker – have some juicy scenes. But, even with its numerous cameos and Johnny Knoxville and Margaret Cho as investigators, this is Wilde’s and Hoffman’s film. Wilde, in particular, eats and heats up the screen every second she appears, delivering each glance, each line with the nerve and whip-like command of a dominatrix. It’s so good, so perfectly timed it too, just like her work in “The Invite,” is worthy of an Oscar nomination. She makes all her dialogue snap like a whip. Details: 3½ stars; opens July 31 at Alamo Drafthouse New Cinema and Opera Plaza, San Francisco; and AMC Mercado 20, Santa Clara.

“Splash City”: What director Gilbert Anthony Milam Jr. (aka Berner) and Alex Ferrufino’s uncompromisingly bleak Bay Area crime tragedy lacks in originality, it more than makes up for in its execution and across-the-board passionate performances. The sadly familiar tale is undeniably powerful. Screenwriters Berner (a Bay Area rapper and cannabis entrepreneur) and David Mansanalez’s knowledge about the Bay Area turf proves to be a huge asset with the characters dropping city names, ranging from Oakland to Richmond to the wealthy tech enclaves in San Jose that seem far away from the reaches of the tough San Francisco streets it centers its action on. The catalyst for the story’s heartache and violence all stems from “bipping” – those swarms of car break-ins where mostly teen and 20-year-old thieves snatch laptops and other items. It sets you up as a story about two close-knit, but heading-in-opposite directions brothers: 19-year-old Elijah (Zach Sowers, a pro basketball player turned actor) who is pursuing collegiate hoop dreams and younger, more impressionable brother Juju (Reed Shannon), who is going astray and hanging with “bipping” homies, getting high and committing low-level crimes. A violent act upends it all and sends Juju down a dangerous road with him riding in the backseat and gangster Dolo (Quincy “Galaxy” Brooks) doing the dangerous driving. Shot on a modest budget, it gives us a lot of S.F. highlights – the Bay Bridge, the Mission, Treasure Island and so on. For that reason and more, “Splash City” feels so homegrown you all but taste the Bay Area soil and is as real and alive as the city itself. It’s a well-made debut and serves as a calling card for two promising filmmakers who know how to mix the thrills with the heartfelt emotions. Even if it fails to satisfy in its final act, it’s still a grabber and is stuffed with strong performances and, of course, lit music. Details: 3 stars out of 4; screens July 31 at AMC Eastridge, San Jose, and Aug. 1, AMC Metreon, San Francisco.

“Sheep in the Box”: The extreme lengths that grief-stricken loved ones take after the loss of a child in our techie age where the ability to communicate with the dead’s becoming more of a weird reality has been an immensely popular, queasy-making topic. In the uncomfortable, eye-brow raising documentary “Eternal You,” filmmakers surveyed tech businesses capitalizing on doing just that while numerous authors have plumbed the subject. Now it’s acclaimed filmmaker Hirokazu Korreda’s turn to tackle the prickly topic, and he handles it with poise and poignancy, presenting us with a lovely and wise, sci-fi-tinged fairy tale (“The Little Prince” gets referenced often) that opens like a lotus flower to reveal something beautiful and hopeful inside. As with his best and better films – “Monster” and “Shoplifters” – Korreda’s vision doesn’t crystalize until late, as disparate parts and supporting characters smoothly connecting with the film’s overarching themes for a more kind-hearted variation on a “Frankenstein”-like construct. It is Tokyo architect Otone Komoto (Haruka Ayase) and her husband Kensuke (Daigo Yamamoto) who find themselves adrift after their seven-year-old son Kakeru perishes. Two years after, Kensuke is back at work but feels an absence, a void that she decides to fill – to the chagrin of her husband – with a humanoid (Rimu Kuwaki) that looks and acts like her son but can also tap into and download into his robot brain a lot of info. Rather than follow the same narrative path others have, “Sheep in the Box” branches out to look at the debate over nature vs. nurture and even about the soul inside of this very human-like machine. It’s presented with such grace as Korreda, once again, metes out details about each character’s own familial backgrounds. While some might balk at its final act and think it’s too sentimental, I felt the opposite and thought it was lovely and both sweet and bittersweet, and above all else, comforting. Details: 3½ stars; opens in theaters July 31.

“Above & Below”: Antonio Banderas’ over-the-top performance as a dapper, vicious drug lord/card shark enlivens director/screenwriter Jesse V. Johnson’s shark thriller, a crackling good genre entry that swims laps around recent sub-par competitors. It’s a cut above the pack because it fully celebrates its fishy roots. For example, an Irish skipper (Timothy V. Murphy) on a boat where the action takes place speaks with a Robert (“Jaws”) Shaw style brogue; there’s even a homage to Quint’s (Shaw) horrifying tale about maneaters on the high seas. “Jaws” buffs will eat it up. Johnson realizes there’s a need to cut loose like that since this tale’s been done before. After a late-night card game, a gaggle of American tourists venture out on a boat to do some shark-cage diving and get some unwanted company in the form of two beefy cocaine drugrunners (Jess Liaudin and Louis Mandylor). When one bag of their coke winds up swimming with the fishers, the stage’s set for sharks and psychos to smell blood and swarm. Banderas shows up early and you’ll fear he’ll be landlocked. Never fear, Johnson knows he’s the ace up the sleeve and allows Banderas to ham it up and deliver lines with kitschy gusto and to give eye-rolling looks. Mandylor is equally hilarious as a dumb thug who is so deserving of becoming shark bait. The suspenseful shark sequences in an underwater cage where our two distressed heroines Tatiana (Laura Marano) and Kaley (Christina Ochoa) get trapped are shockingly good while a third act ratchets up the blood and the tension. Most shark thrillers leave you dissatisfied. Not “Above & Below,” which metes out the shark attacks when warranted and makes them less CGI corny and more realistic. Details: 3 stars; opens July 29 in theaters.

Contact Randy Myers at [email protected].