Shortbus

Alot of times in my job I come acrossed movies that are, for lack of a better term, conflictionary, they are a perfect balance of what is good about modern cinema and are equily what is wrong with modern cinema at the same time. And though some of these make for good movie viewing, they're still in simplistic terms, an unholy mindfuck that leaves you pondering many things.

Shortbus is one of those movies. Much like John Cameron Mitchell's other cult classic "Hedwig and The Angry Inch", Shortbus pushes bounderis, this time, it seems to be mostly of the sexual nature. The film is losely based on a somewhat known happening in an upscale New York City neighborhood called "The Lusty Loft Parties" that happend between 1999 and 2000. This is where John Cameron Mitchell and the movie does something right, it picks a somewhat obscure yet interesting incident that many might have forgotten about and reworks it into something new but simular. I love when movies do that, it gives it a somewhat realistic feel at times, because really, real life is so much more interesting then fiction these days. I blame reality tv for that, but thats a rant for another day and time.

Now, with a group of incidents called "The Lusty Loft Parties", obviously its going to involve sex, but what makes it different is the sex in Shortbus, isn't movie sex, its real sex between the actors involved in the movie, something thats perfectly exceptable in "art house" movies like this. Now, before you think "wooooo porno!" pull your hand out of your pants, you should be warned there is a fairly large amount of man on man sex in this movie, and if you are not very secture with yourself or open minded enough to accept images of men giving other men oral sex followed by letting that man's semen drip into the mouth of the man it came from as an artisticly realistic look at the sexual habits of various people, then by all means go see something else, I'm sure you can find something else to watch, that horrable movie Night At The Museum is still in theaters so is that boring as hell Flags Of Our Fathers, or, other things.

Its abit of a trade off really, gay sex balanced by watching Sook-Yin Lee not only have sex various times but deviler a rather sexy masterbation scene, as well as a dream that mixes masterbation and personal inhabitions and lack of self worth. I'm puzzled by masterbation scenes in movies making me think, yet, i'm open minded to it when its done by a moderately hot asian woman who is a media icon in canada (seriously go look up Sook-Yin Lee if you've no idea who she is).

Don't get confused though, Shortbus, with out giving it all away, isn't so much a porno hidden as an art house movie, so much as a deep interspective look at sexuality, personal inhabitions and insecurities involved in most modern relationships and show that gay or straight, deep down we're all the same, even if we don't all think the same sexually. Like I said, its a mindfuck, you start to wonder if this is really a movie or one of those videos that are made by therapists to try and show the world we're not all that different. I know that many people will miss that point and just focus on the sex in the movie and completely miss the idea and message. But, you know, thats their problem not mine. So go have a look at Shortbus if you wish to try something completely out of the ordenary.

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Laz