SHORTBUS
New York City Sex, Liberation
and Fractured Intimacy in the age of a Big Bush Administration
PopcornReel.com Film Review: "Shortbus"
By Omar P.L. Moore/October 3, 2006
Mistress of Ceremonies:
The indominable and irrepressible Justin Bond as himself, presiding over the
infinite carnal knowledge in John Cameron Mitchell's "Shortbus". (All
photos: ThinkFilm)
John Cameron Mitchell's
ambitious and original "Shortbus" is one of the better films of 2006 -- and not
because of its highly explicit sexual content -- Mr. Mitchell's ideas and
characters' discussions provoke thought and stimulating conversation. The
explicit trailer for the film has director Mitchell talking about the film being
"everything you need to survive the next two years of George Bush." He may
be on to something there, because "Shortbus" is set in New York City (home to
the devastating 9/11/01 attacks) and the film's repeated use of the Statue of
Liberty becomes a metaphor for a landmark representing sexual freedom between
and among men, women and age groups. "Shortbus" appears to illustrate
every gay and straight New Yorker's only weapon against the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan and what many in the U.S. see as a withering of basic human
freedoms: that weapon being sex, sex, and more sex -- publicly, privately and in
polygamous fashion. And the "shortbus", as it is called, is the place in
which to find it.
But "Shortbus" is not just an explicit sexfest (the first ten minutes are about
as sexually graphic as one would expect any pornographic film to be.) The
film probes deeper, looking at three relationships: one between Sofia (Sook-Yin
Lee) a sex therapist who is unable to acheive that elusive orgasm, and Raphael,
her disengaged husband (Rob Barker); two gay men James (Paul Dawson) and Jamie (PJ
DeBoy) -- James is emotionally vulnerable and won't allow a sex act to be
performed on him (or is it that he won't let himself perform it on Jamie?); and
Severin (Linsday Beamish), a single woman who apparently has never had a genuine
relationship with anyone, perhaps not even with herself. She may be
sex-deprived in the sense that she isn't necessarily looking to have someone
else augment her own sexual power, but Severin can achieve what Sofia cannot: an
orgasm -- sometimes at Sofia's own expense -- in a somewhat selfish and
humilating moment during the film.
Sexual power and lightbulbed
ideas: Anguished sex-therapist Sofia (Sook-Yin Lee) ponders as she looks
offscreen at a woman who has just looked at Sofia during sexual climax, in a
moment of deep unspoken erotic connection; PJ DeBoy and Paul Dawson as gay
lovers Jamie and James respectively fighting through their troubled (and
invaded) relationship in John Cameron Mitchell's "Shortbus".
These character set-ups may appear cartoonish to some and there is a level of
satire to "Shortbus", but such is the sincere and authentic aspect to the
dialogue between all of the relatively inexperienced or at least new actors
involved (all were winners from a casting call put out by a Mitchell-related
website) that the film is to be considered seriously as a significant work.
James keeps a video journal of himself and chronicles his fading relationship
with Jamie, who is oblivious to the issues driving them apart. They go to
counseling before Sofia whom they introduce to Shortbus after she confides her
sexual difficulties to them. Later there is a moment in "Shortbus" that
some conservatives will be offended by as the American national anthem is sung
in a way that most people have never heard it before. Shortbus is headed
by Justin Bond, who plays himself as a ribald, witty and charmingly engaging
androgynous figure -- one of the most memorable lines of the film is one which
he utters to Sofia almost as a throwaway line while ogling the sexual
activity before him: "look at them -- it's just like the sixties, only without
the hope." That comment draws laughs, but how prescient a comment it is in
the age of wars, political scandals and emptiness. The scenes in "Shortbus"
could be akin to a f--k for your lives! free-for-all, a Plato's Retreat for the
2000 era, a hopeless, nostalgic harken back to the 60's and '70's where love was
free and consequences relatively inexpensive.
At the same time however, there is a carefree feeling lurking beneath the
surface of all the sex. As the characters (none of whom refer in any
detail to the Bush Administration) seem to be rebelling with the most potent
weapons they have, they may also be content to go out in their own
self-destructive way. For with protection-free polygamy and unprotected
sex isn't the handwriting on the wall just around the corner? The endless
tangle of bodies, blissfully and blithely unaware, happy and "secure" in their
own shared activity, attracts both the prudish and desperate onlooker (which
could well be some in the movie's audience.) A particular scene which
stirs one in a profound way is how a woman having a climax in the shortbus looks
at Sofia. It is not a look of desire or even necessarily of longing, but
rather of an expression of willingness to share her pleasurable experience with
Sofia -- to transmit it to her -- with an indication that there will be no
judgments made about anything, least of all Sofia's difficulties in having an
orgasm. To this reviewer, this singular look is the most penetrating (no
pun intended) and erotic part of "Shortbus", arguably more so than any of the
naked bodies bumping griding and climaxing in multiple choruses.
A statue of sexual liberty?
Lady Liberty pauses as Sofia yearns for sexual liberation. The woman on
the left of the second picture gives Sofia (center) a "look" during sex, a look
that is more pure and erotic than anything else in "Shortbus".
A voyeur Caleb (Peter Stickles) who has been taking pictures and video of Jamie
and James in the building across from theirs plays a pivotal role in "Shortbus",
a film which becomes melodramatic towards its end. A third man, Ceth (Jay
Brannan) enters the shaky relationship between James and Jamie, and this
triggers a turning point that adds suspense to a film that at times rides along
the edge of farce, offers compelling drama and quite a few laughs. "Shortbus"
is an open, refreshingly adult and mature account of human beings trying to make
it through the miasma of relationships rather than purposely meant as anything
shocking or uninhibited (although some audiences -- especially those in America
-- will be uncomfortable with or offended by the explicit and graphic sex.)
Still, there is a sequence bathed in colors that indicates a heaven or a sexual
nirvana that is wonderfully creative. With a scene so visually striking,
how can one argue with it?
"Shortbus" is essentially about
some of the things that men and women run away from in their relationships with
each other. As it always seems, communication or lack thereof, is a most
common casualty -- and technology -- or the distractions and obstructions of
others supposedly fill the void, or are substitutes for the characters'
shortcomings. To repeat, "Shortbus" is not so much about the explicit sex
we see as it is about the deep insecurities and explosions of despair manifested
in the characters' intimate relationships. It seems that those
insecurities could be manifested or masked in a way through the sex that some of
the characters are having onscreen. When the power circuitry goes out in
New York City during this film, there is an analogy to the disappearance of the
juice that holds these relationships together. Near the conclusion, when
the lights across Manhattan come back on and regenerate, it is symbolic of the
couples (or triples) in those troubled relationships reconnecting, a connection
of a power grid of sex, intimacy and deep, abiding trust.
To say that there are eight
million stories in the naked city that is John Cameron Mitchell's New York is an
understatement beyond compare.
Copyright 2006. PopcornReel.com. All Rights Reserved.
"Shortbus" is not rated and for good reason -- it is highly explicit.
But you know that already. If it deserved a rating it would be XXX, but
there is a lot of mature dialogue and situations -- the sex alone is part of the
story but not the only story. The film is challenging and contains both
real and simulated sex as well as explicit moments that could only be described
in the porn trade as "money shots". The film's duration is 1 hour and 42
minutes. The film was written and workshopped by John Cameron Mitchell and
the cast. Mitchell's previous film was "Hedwig and The Angry Inch".