Shortbus
explores sex from every angle.
The explicit finds a sensitive side, a dominatrix cries and a therapist stops watching and participates in John Cameron Mitchell's (
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
) newest film about a sexual utopia called Shortbus. The film follows three storylines as they mingle in a
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carnivalesque New York City salon where conversation and artistic pursuits give way to bursts of carnal exploration.
At the Shortbus, "voyeurism is participation" for savvy sex therapist Sofia (Sook-Yin Lee), who is unable to own her sexuality. Sofia is fascinated by couples who share a mutual satisfaction with intimacy, her own marriage to the self-absorbed Rob (Raphael Barker) yielding no such thing. The gay couple, James and Jamie (Paul Dawson and PJ DeBoy), who invite her to Shortbus are physically liberated (looking to open up their bed to a third man) but emotionally segregated from each other. A dominatrix named Severin, played by Lindsay Beamish, also struggles with being unable to share her vulnerable side with others.
The premise of
Shortbus
is both alluring and frustratingly two-dimensional, plot playing second fiddle to indulgent, lively and often shocking emotional choices by the characters. This type of character-driven filmmaking is often a by-product of works created through improvisation. Lee, along with the rest of the cast of
Shortbus
, developed her character and storyline through workshops with writer/director Mitchell. Each scene serves to propel the characters forward but
at a slightly trying pace. Sofia, for example, drills away at herself so many times in search of her illusive orgasm, one can hardly bear to watch.
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But modern culture would never develop if artists didn't push the envelope of convention and comfort zones. Mitchell's merging of actual sex with a heartfelt drama is groundbreaking, his idealistic attitude regarding sex commendable. Jamie and James give in to a threesome only to learn that penetration and sexual freedom do not equal emotional edification. Sofia is a scholar of sex and relationships who learns that sexuality comes first by honoring the most hidden parts of herself. Similarly, Severin steps out from behind her tough façade and reunites with the person she was before she appropriated her role as a dominatrix.
The Shortbus is a mythical place where autonomy reigns and the mystique of sex is stripped away. Where sexuality is often exploited in cinema, Mitchell employs the physical act to produce a deeper understanding of what makes us human.
