sperm world (now streaming on FX and Hulu) is one of those weird, quirky documentaries about a subculture that you probably don’t know exists, although you probably won’t be surprised that it actually exists: a community of sperm donors and recipients who gather in Facebook groups and essentially interact. in DNA exchanges without the supervision of doctors or any other medical system. The film is directed by one of the best young documentary filmmakers to emerge in recent years, Lance Oppenheim, who seems to have entered the lives of three men who sell or donate their semen to women who long to be mothers. And since Oppenheim made the best documentary of 2020, some kind of skyhe may have made the best of 2024 as well.
SPERM WORLD: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The essence: We open in a Santa Cruz motel room, where one of the most awkward one-night stands in the history of sex is about to happen. The man explains his technique and the physics of the transaction, and the woman accepts; and let’s be clear, this is absolutely transactional. They will try to conceive, as they say, the old way. Birds and bees. That’s how it works sometimes. We’ll move on from this uncomfortable scene and settle into three other narratives in which the preferred method is a little less strange: a man alone in a room with some porn and a cup, and when he’s done, I’ll hand the sample and a syringe to the woman. Biology!
These people meet in Facebook groups where some of the men are generous guys who want to support LGBTQ+ couples or other altruistic ideals. Some do it for the money, but it’s still significantly cheaper than a sperm bank (and doesn’t involve terrible insurance companies), albeit without the oversight, regulation, and other things that might alleviate the risk. I know, you have questions: do scoundrels enter these forums? Of course they do. However, it seems that users are pretty good at controlling things. And what about potential donors who pretend to be kind and noble, but are only looking for some form of sexual conquest? Well, that’s a gray area. sperm world it only profiles people who are good through and through, possibly because the clever ones would never participate.
Let’s meet our first donor, Tyree Kelly. He greets a lesbian couple in a hotel room and they have a pleasant, if slightly awkward, exchange in which he gets to know them a bit as human beings before handing them the goods. A curious detail: the couple also meets Tyree’s fiancé, Atasha Peña Clay, who tells him that she is also trying to get pregnant and that she has to adapt to her busy insemination schedule. He’s funny, maybe. Tyree’s motive is altruistic: he donates blood and plasma regularly and often doesn’t charge money for his sperm, all part of his attempt to contribute some good to the world after spending some time in prison (for reasons that follow being vague). Atasha accompanies him on some of her donation drives; They park in the empty lot of an abandoned building and she queues up a stimulating video on her phone while he reclines the car seat all the way back, and luckily, that’s when the camera cuts away. If Tyree and Atasha’s relationship seems like a pretty complicated dynamic, well, it gets even more strained as the movie goes on. They face hardships and endure large doses of cosmic irony, but there is so much love between them that we can’t help but believe they will endure.
Next up is Steve Walker, a 65-year-old porcee who is relatively new to the sperm donation community; he has three successful pregnancies in six months and stays in touch with the families. He connects with Rachel Stanley, a single woman who has suffered a lung transplant and a cystic fibrosis diagnosis, and is now stepping back from his doctors, who think a pregnancy is too risky. Steve is incredibly polite and affable, with an endearing salty edge, and is nothing but respectful when he invites the sensitive, soft-spoken Rachel to her home. He makes her dinner, they sit by the pool, he organizes a movie night (most of all, they come Mulholland Dr.!). They fail to get Rachel pregnant after several attempts, but a strange kind of friendship may develop here; From the looks of it, they both seem to suffer from acute loneliness. Rachel feels, rightly so, that Steve is developing romantic feelings for her and the camera continues to roll as they sit down for what could be a terribly awkward conversation.
Finally, we have Ari Nagel, who is about 40 years old and presents himself as the father of 123 children. But he says he really needs to stop being a donor: “I’m too old to masturbate in public bathrooms,” he says. His friends and family wonder if this is some kind of unusual addiction, but that might be the least unusual thing about it. He’s very open about his…what is it, work? Hobby? Vocation? – That we see him giving a probability lesson to a university statistics class, using himself and his fatherhood as an example. He doesn’t have a permanent home because he spends all his time traveling, visiting his children, and families happily let him rest on their couches. Ari visits his parents and his elderly, sick mother. He does not do it. Get it. Their relationship is loving, but complicated. He throws a party for some of his kids, with bounce houses and all the fun stuff, but he has to hide to, well, masturbate in a public bathroom. Twice. He made a double booking himself. Lack of communication. Too bad for the donor no. Performance is 2, but I guess it’s better than nothing.
What movies will it remind you of?: sperm world might be beyond the limits of anything Errol Morris or Werner Herzog have ever directed. (It might also be more painfully human.) Fast, Cheap and Out of Control either Vernon, Florida of the first, and short films like How much wood can a groundhog shed? either The great ecstasy of the woodcarver Steiner from the last batch.
Performance worth seeing: You’ll come away from the movie a big fan of Atasha, who comes across as an incredibly understanding, patient, and loving partner to Tyree (who’s also a charming man). I hope she gets everything she wants, needs and deserves.
Memorable dialogue: Sometimes Oppenheim gives us a taste of the terrain of these Facebook groups by sharing posts and conversations from them: “I just finished insemination no. 1. Best donor ever!” reads a post that seems pretty crazy in any context except this one. Another commenter sums up the entire effort succinctly: “I don’t know if it’s normal. “This whole thing is a bit abnormal.”
Sex and skin: None, although there are a few moments where Oppenheim gets to the edge of something before cutting.
Our opinion: The word of the day is uncomfortable, and once you get past it, you’ll realize how strange and moving it is. sperm world may be, and will reflect on Oppenheim’s ability to capture moments of surprising intimacy. It is so surprising and intimate that one is a little surprised that his subjects agreed to be filmed. Perhaps you will find that your vulnerability is a blessing to this fascinating exploration of very big Ideas: biology, psychology, the perpetuation of life, altruism and selfishness, the need for human beings to connect on a level deep. It also serves as a reminder that no emotion is simple, no matter how much we insist or want it to be, and few are more complex than those arising from the interactions between gray market sperm donors and recipients, especially those profiled in this film.
Oppenheim employs a visual sense not seen in documentaries filled with talking heads and archival footage (which apparently is almost all of them). He and cinematographer David Bolin deviate from strict observation in an attempt to capture or create contemplative moods; their aesthetic frequently employs natural lighting and cleverly staged shots, and even when they deviate from the unnecessarily strict conventions of cinema verité (which they do quite often) they remain strict defenders of the truth. You could even say that the truth is ecstatic.
Basically, the director integrates himself into the lives of his subjects and the images he obtains illustrate the trust he has earned. In Steve, we see a man who may need a relationship that transcends simple friendship, stops short of marriage, and is more meaningful than casual sex. In Rachel, we see a crushing internal conflict between his needs and desires and harsh reality; She and Steve share a surprisingly practical conversation about mortality that is quietly heartbreaking. In Ari, we see a tremendously complex man who will inspire pisive reactions, because his definition of “fatherhood” is so far outside the norm. In Tyree and Atasha, we see people with big hearts full of love for themselves and others, and who are simply trying to get by, raise a family, and achieve dreams that may never come true. It’s curious how deeply sperm world sinks, several hours after the credits roll, and it’s strange how the deep strangeness of the almost surreal interactions in this community disappears so quickly as Oppenheim pushes past all apprehension and judgment to find such powerfully human stories.
Our call: You should see. TRANSMIT IT.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic living in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
