Product Description

From the director of ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ comes SHORTBUS, an exploration into the lives of several characters living in present-day New York as they navigate the comic and tragic intersections between love and sex. Male and female, straight and gay, the characters find one another – and eventually find themselves – when they all converge at a weekly underground salon called "Shortbus," a mad world of art, music, politics, and polysexual carnality. One of the true sensations of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, presents sex and sexuality as never before seen in mainstream entertainment, and promises to be one of the most talked-about films for months – and years – to come.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2054 in DVD
• Brand: DAWSON,PAUL
• Released on: 2007-03-13
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Anamorphic
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.com
In his aim to make an honest film about sex, John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) has taken a somewhat documentary approach to Shortbus, a film describing various New Yorkers' sexual pathos. Framed by shots roving a homemade diorama of the city, Shortbus is comprised of vignettes featuring actors who helped craft this story of people's disconnect in sexual endeavors. Jamie (PJ DeBoy) and James (Paul Dawson), a gay couple experiencing a lull in their relationship, visit Sophia (Sook-Yin Lee), a sex therapist whose inability to orgasm results in her clients inviting her to a sex club after which the film is titled. Sophia's husband, Rob (Raphael Barker), is also willing to experiment, so the two independently embark on adventures in self-pleasure. Dominatrix Severin (Lindsay Beamish) plays a crucial role in Sophia and Rob's lives, as her search for real humanity overlaps with their desire for passion. As each character's plot complicates, the viewer sees a similar melancholy bulldozing its way into these seemingly disparate lives. The depression is repeatedly used in comedic scenes, such as when James is asked on a date while still hospitalized for his attempted suicide. Yo La Tengo's score, which includes Animal Collective among others, lends this film a graceful ambience. Unlike porn, Shortbus has a resonance that encourages the viewer to consider one's own sex life as an important aspect of happiness. --Trinie Dalton

Customer Reviews

A bit too gay
I'm not squeamish, I'm not anti-anything, and I accept the human condition to be a bizarre mix of insecurities covered by facades and a yearning for normality. I went into this film expecting a better rounded mix of sexualities from NYC, and all I got from it was twisted gay love triangles coupled with psychological issues and female orgasmic dysfunction. I could be wrong, but my opinion is that reviews and descriptions of this film should emphasize that much, if not most, of the film deals with gay issues and sex. Still interesting from an open minded voyeuristic perspective, but that disclaimer should be there for folks who are expecting otherwise.

Shortbus
Unrated for a reason: This movie is NOT for minors. Graphic sexual situations.

That being said: Shortbus is a MUST see. The characters wind their way through difficult situations in their lives using very unique personal relationships to emerge renewed, if not unscathed, on the other side. Both funny and thought provoking.

I'm waiting for my climax, Mr. Mitchell.
John Cameron Mitchell's 'Shortbus' is an interesting treatise on sex and-I guess-love, but that's all it seems to be-interesting. Though it's intentions are quite admirable and worth a glance, the film fails to be anything but a graphically oversexed diddy with a heart.

Mitchell's choice to gather as many unknown names to star in his film was probably a smart move as there would have been no one in Hollywood with the balls-pun intended-to take such risks as these actors have done. However, before I dropped trou, there have better be a good reason for it, and the reason for 'Shortbus' just isn't good enough. There's a fine line between pornographic and melodramatic being tested here in 'Shortbus.' The way the film presents its more sexually graphic scenes are done very naturally and even a bit humorous, but to what advantage? What kind of impression is the audience going to get with all these graphic images being displayed? In the end, it just boils down to two people actually screwing on film. Now,I for one am not about censoring-especially when it comes to nudity and sexuality, but I have to be honest that even I was shocked and somewhat appalled as what I saw. I think I probably wouldn't have felt that way if 'Shortbus' just got over its artsy self and call itself porn with a story (which, I'm sorry, isn't anything novel). Do I really need to see a man pleasure himself with his own mouth? If that question there bothered the hell out of you, then you haven't seen anything yet!

Those of you who loved 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch', as I did, beware. This is new territory for Mitchell to experiment with and your tolerance to sex and nudity will be tested. I applaud the actors for being so fearless and Mitchell for coming up with a good concept, but perhaps like Todd Haynes's equally interesting experiment, 'I'm Not There', 'Shortbus' only amounts to an interesting concept. I feel that it's defintely worth your time watching at least once. It's no piece of garbage, I assure you. It's just sex afterall.