Shortbus (John Cameron Mitchell, 2006)

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#26 Post by **Matt** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 2:20 pm

marty wrote:Shortbus - what a load of homosexual tripe! Please give me a film without the homosexual preaching, for Christ sake! Yes, we know homosexuals have such a hard life but spare me the preaching of how tough life is and how the whole of USA is against you. Get a life and live your life without demeaning others. Grow up!

How about you get a life and live your life without demeaning others?

Grimfarrow · #27 Post by **Grimfarrow** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:22 pm

And to think that Marty was the one accusing ME of having an agenda! This is priceless...

#28 Post by **cdnchris** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:34 pm

marty wrote:Shortbus - what a load of homosexual tripe! Please give me a film without the homosexual preaching, for Christ sake! Yes, we know homosexuals have such a hard life but spare me the preaching of how tough life is and how the whole of USA is against you. Get a life and live your life without demeaning others. Grow up!

Jesus fuck Christ! Did you even think about what you were saying before you posted!? I've already banned people for saying less stupid and hypocritical shit than that.

#29 Post by **zedz** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 9:27 pm

Am I the only one who has no idea what Marty's premature ejaculation has to do with the actual film? It's a sweet, pansexual, positive film, refreshingly without any of the pre- or post-coital bitterness / agonizing that usually accompanies sex-heavy indies.

The message may not be particularly deep - "sex is easy; relationships are tough" - but the first part of that message, at least, is pretty radical, given the territory, and the tough relationships are evenly doled out among gay, straight, and bi- characters (though Mitchell also pointedly collapses some of those distinctions). And nobody's particularly struggling with their sexual identity or assigned gender role: the issues they confront are personal and personality-specific.

David Ehrenstein · Thu Jun 29, 2006 12:51 am

Casablanca - what a load of heterosexual tripe! Please give me a film without the heterosexual preaching, for Christ sake! Yes, we know heterosexuals have such a hard life but spare me the preaching of how tough life is and how the whole world is against you. Get a life and live your life without demeaning others. Grow up!

toiletduck! · #31 Post by **toiletduck!** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 1:34 pm

Play it again, David.

-Toilet Dcuk

Barmy · #32 Post by **Barmy** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 4:04 pm

What would Helmut Berger say about all this?

David Ehrenstein · Thu Jun 29, 2006 4:49 pm

Undoubtedly "Pass the Lube."

Barmy · #34 Post by **Barmy** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 4:54 pm

Don't you mean Lübe?

David Ehrenstein · Thu Jun 29, 2006 5:08 pm

There was an umlaut?

Lino · #36 Post by **Lino** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 3:59 pm

Teaser trailer!

"Coming" indeed...

Four clips are now online.

Full trailer now online.

Interview with Cameron Mitchell

Uncensored Shortbus trailer. Go on. Click it!

Twitch reviews it.

David Ehrenstein · Fri Sep 15, 2006 2:00 pm

Well I saw it last night and it's the picture of the year. Utterly magnificent. In recent years films like In the realm of the Senses, Intimacy and Nine Songs have been using actual sex as part of the mise en scene, but what John does here goes much father. Not simply because a great number of sexual acts (of all orientations) take place but because of the film's attitude toward sex to begin with.

Pornography presents us with the fantasy of perfectly executed sex delivered by idealized desirable objects (ie. "actors") Shortbus isn't like that at all. The performers are all attractive but in a way one would encounter in life. More important sex isn't seen as a "solution" to any problem, nor is it demonized as"empty" as opposed to "real love." What we get here is group of people with multifarious problems and manifest imperfections delineated with an enormous amount of warmth and affection. There's a professional sex therapist (Sook-Yin Lee) who has never had an orgams, a professional dominatrix (Lindsay Beamish) who's looking for a real relationship with another person, a gay couple (Paul Dawson and P.J. DeBoy) who aren't quite as happy as they would like to imagine, two interloprs (Peter Stickles and Jay Brannan) desirous of the gay couple for rather different reasons, and Justin Bond (of Kiki and Herb fame) as the compere of the club where the film gets its title -- a kind of performance salon cum orgy. It's a place he describes as"just like the 60's only with less hope." Sky-high rents are drving everyone out of New York but 9/11 keeps this crew rooted there, and the musical question (delivered by the great Anita O'Day over the opening credits) is "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby." John supplies his answer. You'll have yours.

The tipping point for Shortbus is whetheryou've ever had sex with more than one person in the presence of several others. If so you'll find it as inviting as a roaring fire on wintryday.

If not, you're on your own.

See it with someone you love. And their boyfriend.

Jean-Luc Garbo · #38 Post by **Jean-Luc Garbo** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 5:27 pm

The magazine Filter has a nice interview with Mitchell. Does anyone know why Hedwig and Shortbus both have "The Star-Spangled Banner" in them?

David Ehrenstein · Sun Sep 17, 2006 1:21 am

Being an "Army Brat," John

http://ehrensteinland.com/htmls/bride/g ... chell.html

is reflexively patriotic I guess.

Cinesimilitude · #40 Post by **Cinesimilitude** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:28 am

I cant wait to see this flick, it sounds amazing. I know I'll have to wait for the dvd though cause none of the theaters in my town would carry it.

Ted Todorov · #41 Post by **Ted Todorov** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 6:20 pm

David Ehrenstein wrote:Well I saw it last night and it's the picture of the year. ...

The tipping point for Shortbus is whetheryou've ever had sex with more than one person in the presence of several others. If so you'll find it as inviting as a roaring fire on wintryday.

Actually I'd say the tipping point is whether you have ever been in therapy -- I thought that Shortbus was far too laden in psychological mumbo-jumbo.

It is certainly very enjoyable, and I recommend it, but not quite the film of the year, or for that matter the best film ever with explicit sex in it.

Who knows, maybe I'm just bitter that no orgies broke out at any of the parties I attended where the Hungry March Band or Dirty Martini were performing

David Ehrenstein · Fri Oct 20, 2006 3:03 pm

Bitter -- table for one!

Lino · #43 Post by **Lino** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 3:02 pm

Happy, happy, joy, joy! Happy, happy, joy, joy! Take a look at the extras for the upcoming DVD of Shortbus:

A Conversation with John Cameron Mitchell and John Waters
Bonus Footage
Filmmaker and Cast Commentary
Trailer Gallery

Mr Pixies · #44 Post by **Mr Pixies** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 2:18 am

Shit, definitely preordering.....! Under 15 bucks at DeepDiscount too.

Lino · #45 Post by **Lino** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 5:45 pm

I knew it was too good to be true -- these are the real final specs:

Trailers
Gifted And Challenged: The Making Of Shortbus
How To Shoot Sex: A Docu-Primer
Deleted Scenes with Filmmaker & Cast Commentary
Trailer Gallery
Filmmaker and Cast Feature Commentary

and you can check them on the back cover.

DVDTalk review

Mr Pixies · #46 Post by **Mr Pixies** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:02 am

I just noticed that too, too bad....DVD Talk is having a givaway for the Shortbus dvd

Doctor Sunshine · #47 Post by **Doctor Sunshine** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:08 pm

If it's any consolation, I saw them in conversation at the TIFF and Waters just rehashed old stories that can be found on his DVD commentaries and Mitchell was much less interesting and not especially memorable. The only story I didn't remember from the DVDs, although it may have been in there somewhere, was that, in the 70s, Gene Siskel called Waters on the phone once asking if he could score him a snuff flick. And that Hollywood grosses are all calculated by the opening weekend take, so everyone should see these type of indie films immediately upon release. It was a good time though.

Michael · #48 Post by **Michael** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:39 pm

Shortbus never made a stop in Central Florida where I'm living. So I was excited when the DVD parked in my hand yesterday.

I watched it with my partner and we both loved it. It's a very moving love song to a NYC that no longer exists amid its tragic post 9/11 Disneyfication. I used to live in Manhattan and Brooklyn in the 1980s and early 1990s but when I visit my friends in NYC every year since moving out of there, the city keeps getting more impossibly expensive and "artificial". I keep hearing my friends weeping about this every time, no different from any of the characters in Shortbus. This is probably why Mitchell decided to make the city (the exteriors) looking the way it is - digital, fake.

But of course there is so much more going on in this utterly beautiful film. How wonderful the world would be if we all could live in Shortbus.

And what a sexy cast!

Wigs by Leonard · #49 Post by **Wigs by Leonard** » Wed Jan 19, 2022 4:37 pm

Just learned via Justin Vivian Bond's latest newsletter that this has received a 4k restoration, distributed by Oscilloscope, with screenings at New York's IFC Center starting next week, Mitchell and Bond and others in person. Screenings at further markets already booked and listed on O-scope's website. Just excellent news -- I've been wondering since Criterion released Hedwig if this might be next, even if they haven't released anything explicit in years. Thrilled this is re-entering the landscape, no matter the company, and will get a Blu before the year is out. Great new poster, too.

flyonthewall2983 · Wed Jan 19, 2022 8:24 pm

Wigs by Leonard wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 4:37 pmI've been wondering since Criterion released Hedwig if this might be next, even if they haven't released anything explicit in years. Thrilled this is re-entering the landscape, no matter the company, and will get a Blu before the year is out. Great new poster, too.

Crash?

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