Shortbus (Unrated Edition)
by John Cameron Mitchell
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DVD details
Actor: Lindsay Beamish, Paul Dawson, PJ DeBoy, Raphael Barker, Sook-Yin LeeDirector: John Cameron Mitchell
Brand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 101 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-03-13
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Velocity / Thinkfilm
DVD Reviews of Shortbus (Unrated Edition)
DVD Review: Long Ride on a Short Bus
Summary: 3 Stars
I purchased this DVD sight unseen because so many people told me I had to see it. Nay, so many people insisted that I simply HAD to own it. It was, they implied, the most revolutionary film ever released, and the next logical step in the Progression of Cinema - the Cinema of the Future. I'm sorry, but in the end, I was completely disappointed.
Not that it didn't seem to have several things going for it, at least initially. To begin with, the film opens with the most candid and realistic depiction of sex I have ever seen in a non-pornographic film, and for a few minutes I thought I was viewing something genuinely revolutionary. And, also initially, it seemed to have a few candid and profound things to say about troubled relationships, until I figured out half-way through it that the characters in those relationships weren't really very interesting, or (with one exception) very likable, either.
This cinematic sex-fest was immediately different from pornography in that, not only did it appear that the characters were really having sex, they seemed to be doing so in a perfectly natural manner. That is, the opening sequence seemed inhabited by real people, none of them extremely attractive (well, not to me), engaging in sex acts that appeared quite convincing. As anyone knows, the point of pornography is sexual titillation. Despite claims of "redeeming social value", all pornographic films exist so that the viewer may achieve prurient satisfaction from watching fantasy sex scenes with beautiful people. The sex in Shortbus is anything but arousing; the participants not only appear to be really having sex with each other (and I believe they actually were), the sex seemed downright mundane. So I was immediately struck by the believability of the opening scene, including the act involving a dominatrix prostitute, and one character's self-filmed auto-fellatio. Believe it or not, that's where reality ended, and surrealism began to seep in.
The basic plot concerns a sex therapist named Sofia, played by the amazingly talented Sook-Yin Lee. Ms. Lee was easily the most engaging thing about Shortbus, and her performance alone was the most enjoyable aspect of the film; she also presented the most likable character. In the film, Sofia remarks several times that she does not want to be referred to as a sex therapist, but she prefers to be called a relationship counselor. I kept thinking that neither her character nor the film's creators seemed to be aware that a sex therapist and a relationship counselor are not the same thing. Anyway, Sofia is having her first session with a gay couple, James and Jamie, one of whom is a former child star and the other a former prostitute, when she inadvertently blurts out to them that she has never achieved an orgasm, despite her "perfect" relationship with her husband, Rob (who may or may not be gay himself). In a sort of bizarre role reversal, James and Jamie suggest to Sofia that she try Shortbus. What is Shortbus, exactly? I spent the rest of the film trying to figure that out.
Shortbus appears to be some sort of combination sexual workshop / voyeur's retreat / cabaret, where those who are sexually confused, no longer attracted to their partners, or otherwise sexually hung up / inhibited / you-pretty-much-name-it can go to work out their sexual problems through uninhibited sexual play with a variety of partners and fellow sufferers. The biggest problem I had was that virtually all of the patrons of Shortbus seemed totally immersed in their own shallow worlds, endlessly crying about their sexual problems until working them out through hours of joyous, uninhibited sex. At one early point, one character remarks how hot the gay couple is. Aside from their youth, I didn't get what was supposed to be so hot about them, as I am generally neither into twinks nor vapid, shallow people. I didn't find much attractive about the rest of the cast, either.
The film takes place in New York City. I am a gay man who has lived all my life in New York City, and I have never met people who even vaguely resemble the characters in Shortbus, nor would I want to. I can imagine (in fact, in the wild 1970's, I have even been to) places in NYC that resemble Shortbus (if for nothing else, the wild sexual orgies reflected therein) but such places, few and far between (and now largely extinct) would have been organized and run by the Mafia purely for profit, and patronized solely by the sexually compulsive, for no other reason than the sex itself. One would certainly not expect to find such a place filled with whole rooms of the sexually repressed, working their way to sexual health through a sort of sexual group therapy. And the first thing I noticed about the mythical Shortbus club (if one could call it a club - I still don't know what to call it) is that it seemed to be operated entirely on someone's charity. I never saw anyone collect an entrance fee, or discuss "terms of membership". I kept wondering how such a multi-roomed sex orgy / cabaret / sex therapy "establishment" could exist on the Island of Manhattan virtually for free, where a hamburger and a beer is likely to set you back $[...] these days, and even then you are hustled out the door of most restaurants in less than an hour. I got the impression that some of the inhabitants of Shortbus had been there for days, a prospect that seemed to me to be possible for the super-rich only.
As I say, there were some aspects of the film I thought were genuinely worthwhile, mostly the comedic moments, and a few of those were genuinely funny (especially the appearance of a character clearly based on former mayor Ed Koch). The celebrated "Star Spangled Banner scene" struck me as puerile and tasteless, and I have never been accused of being a prude. I sure didn't enjoy it for the drama, which was strained throughout, and bordered on bad soap opera. Soap opera with sex. I have nothing against sex, but the soap opera-lives of the main characters were boring as could be. At one point, I glanced at the digital readout on my DVD player, and sighed as I realized I needed to sit through this movie for another hour, never a good sign. At the film's climax, everyone's self-absorbed problems seemed to be magically solved, and the whole cast gathered together for a good natured sing along. As the credits started to roll, I realized with a jolt that the few minutes of entertainment I managed to glean from the proceedings were not worth the amount of time I had wasted watching the film as a whole, and I rolled my eyes as I yanked the disc from the machine and filed it on my shelf, probably never to be watched again. Revolutionary? Perhaps, but the lapses in logic, the extreme surrealism (especially for a film touted for its realism) and the shallowness of its main characters all contributed to my ultimate dissatisfaction.
I have heard nothing but great things about the director's earlier work, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, but after reading various reviews, I decided it probably wasn't for me. Now I guess I'll never know, because there is no way I intend to subject myself to another film by John Cameron Mitchell. And I expect to be very, very cautious in the future when someone tells me about a film I simply MUST own.
Description of Shortbus (Unrated Edition)
From the director of ?Hedwig and the Angry Inch? comes SHORTBUS, an exploration into the lives of several characters living in present-day New York as they navigate the comic and tragic intersections between love and sex. Male and female, straight and gay, the characters find one another ? and eventually find themselves ? when they all converge at a weekly underground salon called "Shortbus," a mad world of art, music, politics, and polysexual carnality. One of the true sensations of this year?s Cannes Film Festival, presents sex and sexuality as never before seen in mainstream entertainment, and promises to be one of the most talked-about films for months ? and years ? to come.Bestsellers in DVD
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