Review of Shortbus (2006) by Halfwelshman — 14 Dec 2011

You'll never see another film quite like Shortbus. It's a rom-com, a heady emotional drama and a study of sex and desire in one, all broken up by quite graphic sex scenes that wouldn't look out of place in pornography.

The way in which the sex scenes are performed (i.e. for real), isn't a criticism, on the contrary, after witnessing the first few instances of passion, these scenes lose their shock factor and become woven into the fabric of the film as a whole.

Shooting these scenes for real also has an interesting side effect - it allows the actors to introduce a liberal doses of improvised humour to these situations, humour which would be almost impossible to pull off if these moments were simulated.

Every scene in the film is a miniature character piece, and it's a testament to the skills of the actors that they've managed to instill their characters with so much depth. The cast appear to be effortlessly natural, and it was entirely left up to them to flesh-out their respective characters and story-lines, therefore the film feels pleasingly organic and completely believable.

Despite the flexible nature of the narrative, the plot never loses focus, everything is tied together by quirky, animated sequences which sweep through an abstract version of New York, and the film builds towards an extremely pleasing symbolic, yet emotionally grounded finale.

The film isn't just about love, or even lust, it's really about coming to terms with who you are, and exploring your own mind and body. Shortbus isn't all frolicking about with naughty bits on show, either.

At points it touches upon some extremely dark issues, and handles these with maturely and sensitively whilst at the same time using them for the maximum dramatic potential that they offer. It's one of the finest examples of collaborative filmmaking in history, and it's also probably the best film about sex that's ever been made.