Shortbus
I don't know if you remember Shortbus, the über-cool movie directed by John Cameron Mitchell (of Hedwig and the Angry Inch fame!) that caused a scandal when it came out because people where calling it 'porn', but I do. I remember as if were yesterday, that I drove with five friends in a big Honda Accord to the Cedar Lee Theaters in Cleveland to see it. It was an event. Funny how you can remember some things so vividly and some others just kind of fade in your memory. But Shortbus was memorable.
Shortbus is such a quirky, sexy movie, I was not sure all people would 'get it', of course. I'm still not sure about that. This country is so backwards when it comes to sex and sexual freedom that most anything is considered 'too much' if it talks openly about sex and sexual preferences and dysfunctions. We seem so restricted to our own little niches and our own little tastes that seeing that on the screen can seem scary to some people. Americans covet sex and fear with the same passion. Sex still scares a ton of people, it may be that Puritanical streak. They recoil from any mention of it like slugs sprinkled with salt.
The thing with Shortbus is that when people found out the sex scenes were unsimulated they were up in arms, even though we have seen them in arthouse favs such as Caligula (Passoliini!), Pink Flamingos (duh, Waters), In the Realm of the Senses, O Fantasma (which I recommend), The Brown Bunny, Intimacy, Lie with Me (Eric Balfour naked!!!), Love (cum in 3D), Stranger by the Lake (so good, so gay) and Nymphomaniac, to name the ones I have actually seen. I bet there's many more. Maybe Upton should give us a tour?
Shortbus basically weeds out the prudes from the jump (there's a self-fellatio scene right at the start) and then goes on to explore the character's problems and bare more than just their bodies: it aims to show their souls. It's a very powerful movie, IMHO. Even though Shortbus cashes in with sexual bravado, it's the frankness of the approach to people's lives what makes it worth a watch (or re-watch). It's been 15 years since it was released and it is still worth a conversation. Recommend.
Now, need some popcorn?
XOXO
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I saw it and was not that impressed. I've always thought he wrote the sex scenes first and then draped a story over them to try and make them relevant to the film.
ReplyDeleteWell, the movie is after all, about people's sex lives.
DeleteSo sex was actually pivotal to what we were seeing. I did not feel the sex scenes were written first. I felt they came up to illustrate a point or driven by the thread that carried the movie. The only thing this movie had is that the sex was not simulated, as it is in prestige films. BTW, I've seen more gratuitous sex in summer blockbusters, put there to titillate and nothing more.
XOXO
The Boyfriend had a copy of Short Bus. He refused to watch it with me, so I squirreled away one late night and watched it by myself. I was mesmerized. I thought it so brave and fearless. And sexy AF. I really enjoyed it and it remain a favorite. I just loved how it mixed everything up and said... yep, sex. It drives people, it drives our lives. I appreciated the frankness. It was refreshing. I've never watched a rom-com the same way since. It's biology, not magic. Who knew? Kizzes.
ReplyDeleteOMG I think I still have a DVD of it somewhere in the house!
DeleteAnd I agree with you: it's brave and fearless and very sexy. And I think you got the message (ding! ding!). The movie is about how sex drives us and how it cannot be denied. If more romcoms would be as frank, they would be much more real...
XOXO
HuntleyBiGuy:
ReplyDeleteThis looks pretty good. And it covers a pretty large audience, I think. I may have to rent this on the smart tv.
XOXO 👨🏼❤️💋👨🏽
Oh, bae. You must.
DeleteIt's a very well crafted little movie. It makes you think but it's sexy. Killer combo, IMHO.
XOXO
Big says,
ReplyDeleteOf course sex scares people. They're (in no particular order) 1. Afraid of "doing it wrong." 2. Afraid of rejection. 3. Afraid of pregnancy. 4. Afraid of intimacy. 5. Afraid to let go to enjoy it (which is ingrained by the historic puritanical influences our society still can't seem to shed).
I shall have to put this on my watch list. XOXO
Yes, Big!
DeleteAll those five do count against people and they do explain the 'why' sex is so taboo for many. And this is a movie that is literally about why sex is so scary and so coveted, so yes. That makes sense.
And I recommend it. Not just for the 'real' sex, but because it's one of those slice-of-life movies that leaves you thinking...
XOXO
Americans are so provincial.
ReplyDeleteOh, absolutely.
DeleteAnything and everything that goes beyond the surface is considered taboo. It's that Puritanical streak that people cannot really shake off...
XOXO
Sook-Yin Lee, who plays Sofia, was (at the time) a popular CBC radio host in Toronto. The CBC fired her for appearing in this film but she won her grievance arbitration and was reinstated. This was big, scandalous news here in Canada, probably even more so than the subject-matter of the film itself.
ReplyDeleteDid you see John Cameron Mitchell's latest starring role as Joe Exotic in the dramatization of the Tiger King story in "Joe vs Carole"? I thought he did a good job but My Rare One hated him in the role and said he was all wrong for it.
Wait what?
DeleteThat is outrageous!! I'm glad she won her grievance. How dared they? But that tells us how people view sex and anything related to it.
And I did not see the Joe vs Carole movie. I was kind of maxed out after watching Joe Exotic. But now I'm curious!!
XOXO
I'll never forget the first time I heard the slur Short Bus. I thought it was so demeaning. But I remember that first scene from the movie as if i were yesterday. The rest of the film I've forgotten.
ReplyDeleteOh, absolutely.
DeleteDemeaning and mean. And that first scene! I think it's a movie worth revisiting. I've watched it again this year. And it did still have meat to gnaw on...
XOXO
For two years....when I was most limber...I was able to recreate the one famous scene and suck myself....then one day I couldn't anymore. Damn it.
ReplyDeleteOh, Maddie.
DeleteBut it's not just being limber. It's that you've got... what it takes.
And you know that there's going to be people here that now are gonna be thinking about that.... LOL
XOXO