Not because it’s a bad movie, or because I don’t think its graphic non-simulated sex scenes (read: actors actually f--king on camera) should not be seen. On the contrary; Shortbus is a great movie, if you buy into it. I’m not going to tell you to go see it, because it’s not a movie you pick up and enjoy without shedding your own inhibitions. Instead, I’m going to tell you that it’s a movie that I hope people are seeing. You will have to want to go see it and experience it. Better yet if, after you see it, you show it to the people you care about. Because if you make that choice, then you have reached an understanding with director John Cameron Mitchell. After all, voyeurism is a type of sex act also, and what are moviegoers if not voyeurs?
Shortbus opens by introducing us to its characters in a series of sex scenes. The average sex scene in a movie represents an aspect of a character – romance, lust, manipulation, or otherwise. Here, the sex scenes are these people’s stamp as characters in the film. Their names, their family, their jobs, their status – and their sense of fashion, for obvious reasons – are not the clues to who they are. Those things are not even revealed until later. These people live in a world free of sexual inhibition. Their problems in life are related to sex, the flaws in their personality are related to sex, and to achieve what they want, they have to go through a journey that involves even more exposure to sexual freedom.
We meet Sofia (Sook-Yin Lee) as she is being thoroughly ravished by her husband in several rooms of their apartment and several (rather impressive) positions. She looks like she’s enjoying herself immensely, but the scene ends with her having to affirm to her husband of how lucky they are to be enjoying such sexual bursts. The husband doesn’t understand what it means, and it breaks Sofia’s heart, because she can’t find the words to tell him that she has never experienced an orgasm. The fact that Sofia’s career is as a sex therapist is comically ironic, but like I said, it’s not necessarily important.
We also follow other characters with similarly disconnected relationships, introduced in similar ways. James (Paul Dawson) we meet as he masturbates and ejaculates into his own mouth, a sex act fitting of a man who feels emotionally and sexually distanced from his boyfriend, and the rest of the world. Then there’s Severin (Lindsay Beamish), a dominatrix who, like her name, is severed from the essence of sex. To her, sex is a job, one that requires her to ignore its delights. When we first see her, her sex act ends with her client’s semen getting lost in a colorful abstract painting, much like Severin herself.
These characters all end up in a club called Shortbus, where orgies are regularly held. Only in this pretense-free environment that they finally find the wisdom they are looking for.
Going into this film, having heard all the hoopla about the hardcore sex scenes, one might not expect to see such a sweet, endearing, and, for the most part, light-hearted story. Yet, if you ask anyone who had the pleasure of seeing the film, “sweet” and “cute” are probably the words they’d use the most to describe it (I’m hoping, anyway). This film isn’t vulgar or dirty. It’s the exact opposite of those things. You know it’s not porn, because porn’s objective is to be erotic, and Shortbus is not. Instead, aside from the previously mentioned serious and poignant sex scenes, there’s tons of humor to be found in the film pertaining sex; from giggle-inducing misuse of sex toys to a hilarious threeway between three men that ends in a rim-dition of the Star-Spangled Banner (I might add that the choice of song being used in this homosexual act, although humorous, carries a deeper meaning – only one of the many political observations made in the film).
Shortbus practically oozes with the joy of sex, so much so that maybe a common agreement on the benefits of free love and sexual liberty is required to fully appreciate the film. Shortbus wants to remind us that sex is an integral part of life that’s supposed to be fun and shared with those you care about, regardless of form or restrictions. It cannot and should not ever be faked, forced or feared; because as each of these characters prove in the film, that can only result in an endless search for a climax.
If Shortbus the movie is the act of sex, then its overly optimistic and festive ending may very well be the orgasm. It’s loud, it’s pleasant, it's musical, it’s spiritually transcending; and then it ends abruptly and you’re left wondering about the sensation. You might feel satisfied, you might feel embarrassed, or, if you’re like me, you’d feel the need to start the whole amazing experience from the beginning all over again.
It’s way too fun to stop.
"Shortbus" opens October 4, 2006 and is rated . . Written by John Cameron Mitchell.
