Pride and the Kids at the Back of the Bus

With July right around the corner, I am down to my final three movie posts for Pride month which, for purposes of this blog, will not, in fact, end on June 30.  This may not be a bad thing since I'm not feeling the patriotic feels that the Trump administration is trying to force down our throats this year. True, the Fourth of July will be America's 250th Birthday but I have to wonder if the Founding Fathers, if suddenly resurrected from their tombs, might prefer hanging out with me and watching John Cameron Mitchell's celebratory, Shortbus--a film about true unity and pride--than be stuck in the stifling heat of Washington D.C. amid the stink of this administration's bombastic, self-referential merrymaking. Except, given that our august forefathers likely never witnessed a man attempt to fellate himself, much less watched a woman insert a vibrating egg into her vagina (except for, maybe Benjamin Franklin who spent an awful lot of time in France), it's very likely that the boys might instead hop aboard the first bus to Halifax. Or anyplace else but here. At any rate, I need to stop rambling and get on with this post.

So, the name John Cameron Mitchell may not ring a bell for a lot of people but to those in the know, he's the face, heart and soul of the 1998 cult classic Hedwig and the Angry Inch (which he co-wrote, directed and starred in). The tale of a vengeful transgender rock singer on a quest to reclaim her stolen music catalogue (as well as her identity) Hedwig is an entertaining debut film that is funny, edgy and moving. That being said, I much prefer his second feature, the wise, wonderful and transgressive, Shortbus, released in 2006. For those who don't know (I didn't) a short bus is described by Google as a smaller school bus used to transport special education students. In the movie, Shortbus is a venue described by its proprietor as "a salon for the gifted and challenged", a private safe space that offers solace, stimulation, conversation and camaraderie to a loosely-knit (and rather extensive) group of enlightened New Yorkers in the period just following the 9/11 attacks.

Shortbus is, in essence, a movie about connections and the lengths some people go to in order to find that special bond that will heal their psychic wounds and make them feel like worthy, functional adults. Gay couple, Jamie and James (formerly known as Jamie) are hoping to open up their relationship and connect with other men. Sophia is a pent-up sex therapist ("I prefer the term couples counselor") whose mind can't quite connect with her clitoris; despite the best efforts of her calm, underemployed husband (and various sex toys) her orgasms remain elusive. Severin is a tough-talking professional dominatrix with a biting sense of humor and a frustrated desire to live "a normal life, with a house and a cat and everything" (she currently lives alone in a storage unit). Sweet-natured young beauty Ceth ("it's pronounced Seth") is a former fashion model and aspiring singer who shines a hopeful light into the messy lives of others as he waits to--somehow--connect with "the Jamies". And then there's Caleb, a creepy, voyeuristic proofreader working from his apartment which, conveniently, overlooks that of Jamie and James. 

These young people--among many, many other like-minded souls of all ages, races, genders and sizes (there's even an avatar for Ed Koch)-- all come together in weekly gatherings at the large, rambling nightspot known as Shortbus. As newcomer Sophia (and, later, her husband Rob) makes her way through the assorted rooms of the venue, she is introduced to a menagerie of exotic and eccentric characters who challenge her tightly wound mindset. There's an entry/lounge area where patrons meet and intermingle while musicians, a marching band and other performance artists provide a lovely soundtrack to the comedies and dramas unfolding throughout the room. The Women's Room is a haven for lesbians and feminists to share their own private thoughts and feelings, while there's another space where games--like Truth or Dare--play out like mini-psychodramas. Finally, there's the Orgy Room, which is just what it sounds like: a large, communal space where the uninhibited are encouraged to shed their clothes and engage with the carnival of naked, intertwined flesh undulating and commingling together in irregular rhythms. Sounds like fun, right? Maybe not for everyone and, most especially not for the buttoned-up Sophia. At least not until she makes eye contact with a beautiful young couple going at it full throttle in the midst of all the other nude revelers doing their own things. All this is presided over by the fabulous Justin Vivian Bond, the transgender salon-owner, house mother and bon vivant who keeps things running, if not smoothly, then on time.

 

The sex in this movie, by the way, is all completely real and unsimulated. In the first 5 minutes, we're treated to the sight of James attempting (semi-successfully) to get his penis into his mouth, finally ejaculating all over his face as he weeps; Severin's cute(ish) "trust-fund baby" client shooting a high-velocity load onto a painting next to the bed as she thrashes him with a multi-tailed leather whip; and Sophia and Rob fucking in every conceivable (and some hilariously inconceivable) position throughout their apartment as Sophia desperately tries--and fails--to have an orgasm (later in the film she experiences the same results with a black dildo, several self-administered hand-jobs and the vibrating egg). This all happens during the film's opening scenes. At another point, Ceth has a threesome with James and Jamie in which he blows James while Jamie sings the Star-Spangled Banner into his ass. 

Shortbus, in other words, is not a movie I would recommend for a group outing for you and your Sunday School class. Capiche? Still, I don't find the movie to be pornographic--it's not even all that arousing, despite the many erections, ejaculations, penetrations and fingering going on. Yes, there's a lot of sex and nudity, but the whole point of the movie is really about the generosity, sense of community, and restorative powers we humans are capable of sharing if we open up our minds.

There's actually quite a lot of drama in the film, but also some very funny moments, as when Sophia's egg is accidentally cranked up to its highest setting when she least expects it. Played by Canadian actress Sook Yin-Lee, sex-therapist Sophia is so tightly wound that when things inevitably go awry (mostly her attempts to orgasm) she's hilarious. Lindsay Beamish as Severin, also delivers some of the film's funniest lines but her role also requires a large degree of vulnerability, which she manages to pull off very well. 

Paul Dawson and his real-life partner, P.J. DeBoy, are extremely affecting as, respectively, James and Jamie, a couple who look remarkably alike. Dawson, as the suicidally depressed James, delivers an amazing performance, while DeBoy is equally fine as his devoted, insecure lover. I also liked Jay Brannon's Ceth, who plays the guitar and sings when he's not busy canoodling with "the Jamies". His brief interlude with the elderly former New York mayor (a splendid Alan Mandell) is particularly moving. Raphael Barker is easy-on-the-eyes and enjoyable as Sophia's bewildered bubala Rob, but Peter Stickles' Caleb feels like a miscalculation. I'm not sure why but his character is far too disturbing (and disturbed) to really make me believe in his (sort of) redemption arc at the end of the movie. And, finally, there are the numerous sextras hired for the orgy scenes. Without them, Shortbus wouldn't be complete: they are vital players in this joyful exploration of lust and love. 

 Of course, everyone gets their own happy ending in the film, even if we--and they--don't really know what's going to happen the next day and the day after that. At least there's a reassuring sense of hope that resonates throughout the film's, um, climax. The very last frames of the movie find Sophia swept up in the sensuous tide driven by the couple she first observed making love in the orgy room. And at last, she has her first orgasm as the marching band plays on. 

**A Few Notes on Shortbus**

All the actors were cast before there was even a story. Over the course of two and a half years, Mitchell developed his screenplay through improvisational work with his cast, as they fleshed out their own characters.

Shortbus, while not an actual salon, is loosely based on a similar series of art/social events and Brooklyn loft parties, as well as Mitchell's affiliation with the Radical Faeries. 

Among the artists providing material for the movie's excellent soundtrack are Scott Matthew, Yo La Tengo, Anita O'Day, Jay Brannon (Ceth), The Hidden Cameras, and Justin Bond and the Hungry Marching Band.

The featured sextras who enchant Sophia are Shanti Carson and Jan Hilmer, while the director, John Cameron Mitchell, features himself going down on a woman--for the first time--during one of the film's orgy sequences.