Shortbus (***)
review by Jon
Waterman
Sofia is a couples counselor who specializes in sexual relationships.
Unfortunately for her, she’s never had an orgasm herself,
despite the wild marathon sessions she enjoys with her husband.
Sofia takes on James and Jaime as clients. They are a gay couple
who are searching for a third partner to help liven up the
relationship and ultimately pull James out of his deep depression.
Severin is a dominatrix who’s becoming bored with her
craft and starts to wonder if there’s more to life. Shortbus
is the name of the club they all frequent in order to live
free of sexual repression and to mind meaning in their lives
(sexually speaking or otherwise).
As you can tell this is a sexually charged movie. It contains
scenes of real sexual intercourse and other graphic content
that you normally wouldn’t see in most mainstream or
independent pictures with any semblance of a plot. Writer/director
John Cameron Mitchell (“Hedwig and the Angry Itch”)
throws you right into the throws of passion immediately. After
traveling through a beautiful CG cityscape of New York City,
you’re inundated with a collage of hardcore images set
to decidedly indie music. You’ll see full frontal nudity,
penetration, self-fellatio, urination, flatulence and the all
important ejaculation. If you’ve made it this far, the
worst is over. That is if you don’t count the occasional
orgy in the background, which really seem tame in comparison
to the more “standard” scenes you see at the start
and elsewhere.
It’s sexually charged in another way. The plot revolves
solely around sex. It’s as if the world revolves around
sex. And although that statement may seem true at times, I
don’t think it should be within the scope of this movie.
I truly feel the film suffers as a result of its one-track
mind. Sure there are a couple other issues at play, but let’s
be honest – it’s all about getting off. Whereas
other films with hardcore elements such as “Kissing
on the Mouth” or “Ken
Park” use sex as a mere
catalyst towards a deeper conversation or conflict or they
use it as an honest representation of one aspect of the characters’ lives, “Shortbus” feels
the need to use sex to springboard into talking about sex.
I know there’s more to these people than just what they
do (or don’t do) in the bedroom. Too bad we never get
to find out what that is.
If all this sex talk is making you uncomfortable, then you’ll
be glad to know that Mitchell eases the tension by making the
film funny. There are a lot of good lines, and the humor is
what really makes the film so compelling and fun to watch,
not the naked bodies. I mean when you have a character named
Ceth (pronounced Seth), then you know you’re on to something.
Speaking of Ceth, I really enjoyed his interchange with Tobias,
the mayor (a much older gentleman looking for some action).
It was one of the better scenes, because it was humorous and
heartfelt with fascinating dialogue. Most of the film can claim
two of the three at any given time, but rarely all three. I
was really expecting and hoping for more from that dynamic
duo. I suppose that sort of sums up how I felt about the picture
as a whole. Although I really enjoyed watching the film (this
review seems to understate how good it actually is, because
I’m picking hard at a couple of crucial points), I ultimately
was looking for a little more depth. You showed us real sex.
Now show us the real lives that have the real sex.
respond to jon@filmbrats.com
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