SHORTBUS
	Image courtesy of ThinkFilm
I have to admit I didn’t read my invite very closely for Shortbus before attending the press screening earlier this week; so, needless to say, I wasn’t quite prepared for the ticket taker stonewalling me downstairs when I was carded before entering the theatre. I knew there was supposed to be a few sex scenes in the movie, but what in the hell was I about to watch? Come on. Did he really think anyone on the press list was under 18? Seriously! By now, my curiosity was really starting to get the best of me; so, I broke our unwritten snob rule of not speaking to one other by asking the only other media member present at the time what was up with all of the anal retentiveness. That’s when we finally looked at the pink flyer they handed us with our ticket stubs. The rather large image of people crammed inside a giant keyhole shaped like a penis with the warning in bold letters at the top of the flyer stating, “this film contains explicit sexual frankness” explained it all. Fortunately, the movie started a couple of minutes later, allowing me to kick back and laugh my ass off at John Cameron Mitchell’s (Hedgwick and the Angry Itch) latest flick, Shortbus, as it explored the humorous side of relationships, sex, and the quest for self-gratification. However, I should probably warn you…Mitchell wastes no time getting to the sex.
			During the opening sequence we see Sofia (Sook-Yin Lee) and her husband Rob (Raphael Barker) making the Kama Sutra look like an kid’s book, James (Paul Dawson) trying to orally gratify himself, and dominatrix Severin (Lindsay Beamish) spanking her latest client.
Image courtesy of ThinkFilm
Once the introductions to these isolated characters are made through their ridiculous sex antics, Mitchell first tries to center the story on the relationship between James and his partner Jamie (PJ DeBoy). On their first visit to couples’ therapy, we’re sidetracked with storyline number 2. Ironically, Sofia is a sex therapist that has never had an orgasm. From there, the movie enters the world of “Shortbus,” an underground salon full of “art, music, politics, and polysexual carnality.” In other words, it’s basically the sexually hedonistic Roman bathhouse of the 21^st century. Obviously Sophia isn’t a very good counselor because she starts hanging out at “Shortbus” in order to solve her own dilemma instead of helping “the Jamies.” Even worse, Mitchell never really explains the problem with “the Jamies’” relationship (other than to show signs of James’ depression); and, their story ends before it even has a chance to really begin. Overall, it seems as if the characters aren’t developed enough for us to see them as anything more than random people with amusing sex lives. As for the question of whether or not the “explicit sexual content" are over-the-top and unnecessary, the answer is no. Granted, you will probably see more experimental sex and alternative sexual lifestyles than you probably wanted to see; but, Mitchell uses sex as a metaphor for those of us who remain emotionally detached from life itself. No one can deny that sex is a funny thing. It’s awkwardly embarrassing; but, at the same time, it’s also amusingly pleasurable.
Whether or not you get on the shortbus is entirely up to you. Remember that “voyeurism is participation,” even if you are watching one man sing the national anthem into another man’s ass…just don’t “own it.” © Kelly Bartley 2006
		Image courtesy of ThinkFilm