Due West: Our Sex Journey
Plot
Frankie is brought up in a strict middle class family, but like any other adolescent, he is curious about sex during puberty, so he turns to his "sex mentor" - porn magazines and his mate Jing. With the help of Jing, Frankie has the opportunity of camping with his crush Zoey, and spending time alone with her, during which he loses his virginity to her... not quite! He turns out to be doing the well-known ugly she-boy from school! The episode devastates Frankie, and he decides to leave Hong Kong for the U.K. to continue his study, where he acquaints with lecherous senior James. Frankie is in a stable relationship with Zeta after graduating. Their only problem is their sex life: Zeta is sexually anxious and sets certain restrictions. Not only does that prevent Frankie from being sexually satisfied, it also indirectly leads to their breakup. Frankie then begins his journey back to the mainland with Jing to pick up chicks in clubs, and eventually prostitution, where he meets Celia who gives him pleasures he never experienced before. Frankie knows his passion for Celia is based on physical attraction, whereas for Zeta it is spiritual. He cannot help but struggle between love and lust. What will be Frankie's final decision?
Overall Series Review
Categorical Breakdown
The narrative centers on a personal, psychological journey of sexual awakening. Characters are judged based on how they satisfy or restrict the protagonist's sexual needs. Race and immutable characteristics are not the core conflict, nor is there any focus on systemic oppression. The cast is predominantly Asian, reflecting the Hong Kong setting, and it does not engage with Western identity politics.
Frankie's journey is prompted by his inability to reconcile his sexual drive with the strictness of his Hong Kong family and society. His quest for fulfillment leads him 'Due West' to mainland China, which is portrayed as a source of sexual liberation and greater satisfaction compared to the prudishness of his home culture. This acts as a critique of specific restrictive social values within his immediate Hong Kong culture, but it does not descend into broad civilizational self-hatred or a vilification of ancestors.
The entire story is a male sexual journey, driven by the protagonist's pursuit of pleasure. Female characters are defined by their relationship to this male pursuit, such as the sexually anxious girlfriend whose restrictions lead to the breakup, and the sex worker who provides unprecedented pleasure. There are no 'Girl Boss' or 'Mary Sue' tropes. The plot is fundamentally focused on masculine vitality and the pursuit of female companionship for male fulfillment, which is the antithesis of the anti-natalist and anti-male gender politics of high-woke content.
The single appearance of a gender-nonconforming or effeminate male character ('she-boy') is framed as a devastating, traumatic event for the male protagonist, which causes him to flee Hong Kong out of shame. This narrative device reinforces the normative structure of male-female pairing and treats non-normative sexuality as a source of personal disaster. The film is a heterosexual sex comedy focused on the male-female dynamic and does not promote alternative sexual ideologies.
The central moral conflict is framed as a struggle between love and lust, or spiritual versus physical attraction, a largely secular and philosophical dilemma. The film contains no characters who are explicitly religious figures or representations of Christianity. Traditional religion is not vilified or presented as the root of evil. The morality discussed is an internal, transcendent morality concerning the nature of love and physical desire, not subjective power dynamics.