Film Reviews

Shortbus

• Rating:
• Director: John Cameron Mitchell
• Starring: Paul Dawson
• Details: US / 101mins (18).

Yet another film that explores the sexuality of New York City-dwellers, but what has Shortbus got that all the others don't? Well, a perfectly executed self-performed fellatio for one. Couples counsellor/sex therapist Sophia (Yin-Lee) is treating gay couple James (Dawson) and the depressed Jamie (DeBoy) as they struggle with monogamy. When she confesses that she has never had an orgasm, they convince her to accompany them to the underground nightclub Shortbus - a haven for lovers of art, music, films, sex and where it "feels like the '60s, except with less hope." There she meets the dominatrix Severin (Beamish) and the two explore each other's sexuality and minds. Scenes of an explicit nature abound in Shortbus as there is a breast or a bare ass pointing at the screen in almost every scene, and more sexual positions in the opening five minutes than Samantha managed in six seasons of Sex And The City. But it's not all sex, as writer/director John Cameron Mitchell delivers a script that has an authentic quality to it. The dialogue never feels 'written' and has a natural flow while his direction matches it with a documentary approach, as his handheld camera jumps in and out of the lives of his multi-character story. It is both downbeat and uplifting as Mitchell is pretty down on the world and the people that occupy it; yet he obviously loves New York and refuses to abandon all hope, as the final sing-a-long will testify.

Review by Gavin Burke