Shortbus Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

Shortbus

Sofia (Lee) is a sex therapist who has never had an orgasm. James (Dawson) and Jamie (De Boy) are a gay couple who are thinking of bringing someone else into their relationship. Severin (Beamish) is a dominatrix who wants to be able to be more intimate with people. All these people, and more, explore their sexual issues through the Shortbus parties thrown by Justin Bond (Himself).

The last few years have seen real sex come into mainstream cinema in a big way. Films like Intimacy, Baise Moi and Nine Songs have all featured lots of hardcore sex alongside (somewhat) mainstream stories. Now here comes Shortbus, hyped as the most explicit film the BBFC has ever passed at 18 and laden with positive reviews, the most memorable of which described it as 70's porn, as shot by Woody Allen.

The story and the characters (developed by Mitchell and the cast over two years in a Mike Leigh on viagra style) work really well. These are real people, interesting people, that you'll care about.

The acting is teriffic. Sook-yin Lee stands out as Sofia as does Paul Dawson as James but the film is almost stolen by Lindsay Beamish's sad dominatrix with the absolutely hillarious name (it's worth seeing the film just to hear her reaal name). The script fizzes with humour, particularly in the Shortbus party scenes ('It's like the 60's but without the hope') but then once in a while the film takes a twist and ends up wringing real emotion from you.

The film also looks lovely, an CG animated version of New York, used to introduce us to the space and characters is particularly outstanding and the whole thing feels more cinematic than something like Baise Moi or Nine Songs.

However there's a large downside. I'm not a prude, I have no problem with real sex in cinema but for all Mitchell's saying that the sex in Shortbus serves the story...IS the story... it actually only ever takes away from the film. I understand that the sex is an important part of the film; a large part of it is about Sofia's quest for an orgasm (and ends in, if you'll pardon the pun, rather an anti-climax) but there's no reason for it to be hardcore at all. Indeed of all the films that have used hardcore sex recently this is the one where it feels most gratuitous, perhaps because at the heart of Shortbus is a sweet funny story about several people trying to find themselves in various ways. Done with just a little more subtlety, even if the certificate were still 18, this film could have found a broader audience. Including a gay threesome which culminates in one man singing the star spangled banner into another's arse rather precludes that and that's a shame.

When it is character comedy Shortbus is excellent but by trying to push the envelope John Cameron Mitchell has shot himself and his film in the foot.

Bordering on pure porn

Hmmmm, I knew it was going to be risque when I rented it. Hey, thats the reason I did rented it- a porn movie disguised as a real film, lol. The storyline is ok, the characters are ok, the script... well, I found the script left a lot to be desired, but all in all a good fim, with a LOT of sex.