Paying for It is a Canadian comedy - drama film which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2024. It was directed by former MuchMusic DJ Sook-Yin Lee, and is an adaptation of the 2011 graphic novel of the same name by Chester Brown. Brown and Lee were a real life couple during the early to mid 1990's, which is the time frame for this film, though not explicitly stated as such. Older members will find the depiction of the mid-1990's local scene to be nostalgically authentic.
imdb(dot)com plot synopsis: When an introverted cartoonist's girlfriend wants to redefine their relationship, he begins sleeping with sex workers and discovers a new kind of intimacy in the process.
Chester Brown himself has a brief non-speaking cameo appearance, about 22 minutes in:
This movie has much in common with many Canadian 'arthouse' theatrical films: excellent cinematography, realistic set design, slow pace, competent acting by performers the general public has never heard of, acclaim by critics, nominations and wins at Canadian film award shows, and next to no box office earnings. According to Box Office Mojo, total box office receipts were $12, 276, from a two week run in 4 theaters in January, 2026. One of the co-stars is Andrea Werhun,
with whom some TERB members may be intimately familiar.
Click here to watch the official trailer.
I'm about a third of the way through, and I will watch the rest. I downloaded the 720p 'LAMA' BluRay rip from a private torrent site earlier this week. I thought this movie would be of interest to many readers of this thread, so I uploaded my copy.
Paying for It 2024
archive.org
Click here to watch online. Right-click the link -> 'save link as...' to download, (780 MB, .mp4).