ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joseph Perry writes for the film websites Gruesome Magazine, The Scariest Things, Horror Fuel, The Good, the Bad and the Verdict and Diabolique Magazine; for the film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope and Drive-In Asylum; and for the pop culture websites When It Was Cool and Uphill Both Ways. He is also one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast and can occasionally be heard as a cohost on Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast.

Official synopsis: Set in the late 90’s, Paying for It follows the trials and travails of Chester (Dan Beirne), a cartoonist and Sonny (Emily Lê), a TV host, who are in a long-term, committed, romantic relationship. When Sonny introduces the idea of opening up their relationship, Chester begins sleeping with sex workers, forcing him to face his issues with intimacy and romance in the process. Based on the best-selling graphic novel by acclaimed alternative-cartoonist Chester Brown.

Celebrating the vibrant underground comic and zine era through the experiences of cartoonist Brown, Paying for It connects the past with the present by bringing together emerging comic actors, performance artists, authors, activists, and multimedia creators in front of and behind the camera, and it has resonated for festival audiences and critics alike.

Canadian dramedy Paying for It may be one of the most honest narrative films released this year. Director Sook-Yin Lee brings to the screen a semiautobiographical account of her longtime relationship with alt-cartoonist Chester Brown, first as a couple and then as friends. The pair is portrayed here by Emily Lê as Lee’s cinematic counterpart Sonny and Dan Beirne as Brown.

Lee, who cowrote the screenplay with Brown and Joanne Sarazen, balances the characters wonderfully, making neither one more “right or wrong” than the other, and portraying them as real people making unusual decisions in their lives. Beirne and Lê are both fantastic in their roles, and they lead a sizable supporting cast that includes a wonderful performance by Andrea Werhun as Yulissa, who together with Brown strikes up a highly intriguing intimate relationship.

The tone of the film never falls into straight comedy, with the humor being more of the smile-inducing type rather than going for belly laughs. Nor does the drama become too heavy or didactic. Paying for It simply offers up two people’s unique views on nontraditional relationships and the ways that their behavior affects those around them, giving viewers plenty to chew on long after watching. 

Paying for It opens in theaters on January 30, 2026.