Pleasure Buzz

Title: Shortbus
Starring: Sook-Yin Lee, Paul Dawson, Lindsay Beamish etc.
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Producer: Fortissimo Films
Length: 101 min
Year: 2006
Country: USA
Rated: Unrated on Imdb. More than likely a x-rating since it has a lot of sex in it.
Reviewed copy: Swedish cinema release

Plot
New York City is the gathering place for the “shortbus” people - the misfits, outcasts and the different. This is the story about a few of them. There’s Sofia, a sex therapist who in spite of her occupation never have had an orgasm. There’s the gay couple James and Jamie who are having relationship issues and wants to explore the possibility of a threesome. And there’s Severin, a professional dominatrix who’s unable to form a normal human relationship. These people and others gather at the underground club “Shortbus” to explore their sexuality and their lives in general.

Acting
This movie has some amazing acting in it. all of the actors are so-called “no-names”, i.e. people who aren’t generally famous. They’ve starred in some tv-episodes and some unknown movies at the most. The most experienced actress must be Sook-Yin Lee who had a part in director John Cameron Mitchell’s previous movie Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001). She’s great in the role as Sofia. But the best actor of the bunch has to be Paul Dawson as the depressed James. He delivers a performance which very well could be the start of a career in Hollywood. All in all, simply extraordinary acting. A joy to witness.

Direction & script
John Cameron Mitchell became an underground favorite with the previous mentioned Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001). This is his follow-up feature and again he comes of as a master director. Everything from the design, the eye for details, camera sweeps, acting direction and dramaturgy is so impressive that I almost went into a state of “oh my god, I’ll never amount to anything like this!”. Cameron has a poet’s way with words and emotions and he can translate his thoughts and writings to the silver screen perfectly. With this movie he proves that his previous success wasn’t just a fluke. This is a guy to watch out for! The script itself is wonderful. Cameron shows an uncanny understanding of human nature and doesn’t try to cover it up by using metaphores or suggestive dialouge. The characters in Shortbus are believable, alive and naked in more than one sense. Excellent!

Bottom line
To tell the truth, I was more than a little skeptical of this movie. It seemed like it would fall into the same trap as the dreadful happiness (1998) which everyone loved but I found to be a movie merely out for shock value. I didn’t become less skeptical when all the buzz was about how the actors have real sex in the sex scenes. I mean, who cares? Sex is sex and if you aren’t an American prude this isn’t really shocking stuff. The greatness of the sex scenes is that they too, just like the characters, are realistic and believable. Cameron doesn’t use the “porno angles” or unmotivated sex but uses it as a pivotal part of the storytelling. All the sex scenes say something about the characters, they’re needed to move the story along. That said about the big “controversy” let’s focus on the movie as such. This is, hands down, one of the best films I’ve ever seen. As I said before, it’s about real persons, a truly humanistic portrayal about people lost in the world. The acting, directing, soundtrack, script, everything is top-notch. This is a movie I’ll buy the minute it comes out on dvd. I suggest you do to. The ending scene was so beautiful i actually shed a tear or two and I left the theater with a warm feeling of happiness.

This lovely review has been written by Ulf Nilsson. Make sure you read his other reviews in his Livejournal.