Review of Shortbus (2006) by Paul K — 23 Dec 2008

I didn't travel to the indie theater in Grand Rapids to see this movie - I anticipated feeling too embarrassed by how much I might enjoy seeing real sex on the screen but even more so by how uncomfortable I was about my anxiety. As another commented, this is a movie for a person of utmost maturity, but, I might add, it is the perfect movie for someone who wants to gain more maturity in an area of life where society gives us almost no guidance, and that's especially true in the movies.

Once you get acclimated to the sexual content, you remember that you and the actors in the movie are all just human beings with the same issues and desires, and it becomes much easier to watch and to care about what is happening to the people on screen. It is more explicit than porn for the most part, but a heck of a lot less sleazy. I came away feeling uplifted, which is what good a sexual experience should also do.

This movie is about people who have sex, and people who have issues about sex, and people who are just trying to connect with others through sex. Quite a few of the characters are a bit irresponsible and annoyingly narcissistic (like many New Yorkers, in my opinion, who don't comprehend the fact that there's a world outside their city) but there are also many deeply human moments when the characters are not just physically naked and aroused, but emotionally vulnerable as well. It's not about just showing sex, as porn is. It's about the experience of sex, and the why's of the experience, and that's pretty much it. There's not too much of a plot, but a carefully constructed exploration that parallels the the journey of a sex therapist who has never had an orgasm.

Director John Cameron Mitchell was interviewed about the movie for an IFC series called Indie Sex. And you got to believe that if directors in Hollywood had as much sense as Mitchell did in that interview, movies would be contribute a lot more to the health of our society. It's really a shame that a production like this is likely to offend or scare off the people who would benefit most from seeing it, or never be allowed to reach them. Basically, he was saying that if we don't talk about sex like adults, and portray realistic sexuality in films, then how can we as a society be expected to behave sexually like adults. I haven't heard anything make more sense in a long time. It was also interesting to hear him describe the process by which the cast was brought together and how the movie was produced. It was not just a movie for (a very limited portion of) the public - it was a kind of lifelong learning workshop for the actors, who were creating something that has never been done before, but hopefully, because of their efforts and their experiences, will happen again in another ground-breaking and uplifting kind of way.