Review of Shortbus (2006) by Johnslegers — 03 Jan 2016

"Shortbus" is an interesting perspective on the loose sexual morals of the hip New York underground scene and shows us how these people apparently soothe their insecurities with lots of promiscuous sex, but I found it too distant from my own way of life, too shallow and too one-sided to really appeal to me. I liked the way it explored human weakness and the insecurities of the various characters felt all quite genuine, which is quite refreshing in an age where shallow pulp blockbusters make the majority of films available. However, the film didn't really go being that, it lacked balance in every possible way and wasn't nearly the genius art house film it tried to be, which left somewhat of a bitter aftertaste.

Even though one can see people talking about their private lives a lot, the character development still felt rushed. We get to understand people's insecurities regarding relationships and sexuality, but that's pretty much all we learn about them which makes it hard to really empathize with the characters. Also, besides the sex and relationship talk all we really get to see is people being naked and/or having sex, which gets quite monotonous near the end of the film and is too much in contrast with the emotional side of the rest of the film.

While we do get to see things from a lesbian perspective, a straight perspective and a gay male perspective, the gay male perspective is way too over-lighted and the lesbian side is only really touched in one scene. The heterosexual male's perspective is very under-lighted as well and even the heterosexual female's perspective does not get the amount of attention it should have gotten in spite of a straight female main character.

Similarly, the director shows us quite a lot gay males having sex, whereas the straight sex is very limited and very mild in comparison and there is no lesbian sex at all. Female genitals are not really shown, whereas male genitals are all over the place. Now, I have no problem with homosexual directors and them making a film from their own perspectives but he could have either made this a pure gay film ("Queer as Folk" style) or he could have given the heterosexual and lesbian side more screen time. This unbalanced mixture feels very awkward.

While the style of this film was most definitely refreshing and far from bad, it by no means comes close to the genius of Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", "Human Nature", "The Science of Sleep") or Sean Ellis ("Cashback") who also explored human sexuality and relationships in their films (although from a straight, generally male perspective). "Shortbus" didn't even come close to being as charming as "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", as silly as "Human Nature" or as intense as "Cashback". Unlike the other films mentioned, "Shortbus" seemed to be more about sex than about love. Also unlike the other films mentioned, the audiovisual style of "Shortbus" felt not very innovative or unique after having seen quite a few art house films in my life. This made it come off as a bit pretentious.

If you're a homosexual male in conflict with your emotions, you may really like this film and consider it a very heartwarming experience, but for anyone else I'd recommend you go watch and of the other films I mentioned if you want to see an art house film about sex and relationships that's refreshing and different from anything you've seen before.