This will be quick.
What you need to do is find yourself a local indie theatre, that plays smaller, hard-to-find indie films. Check if they’re playing “Shortbus”. You can do a search in your area for the movie from this search on MovieTickets.com. Thankfully, I have the Laemmle Sunset 5 down the street, and was able to catch it.
It’s a film by John Cameron Mitchell – the star/writer/director of “Hedwig & the Angry Inch”. I heard about the making of his latest film something like 4-5 years ago. There was an interview w/him on Nerve.com where he said he wanted to tell personal stories of sexuality, intimacy and relationships without concerns for ratings or “going too far”. Basically, thoughtful porn if you will. His friends said it was the worst idea ever, and it would bury him.
The movie has no rating. He didn’t even bother to submit it to the ratings board. It’s just that hardcore. Thing is, you realize in the first 45 seconds what you’re in for as you watch a naked man videotape a close-up shot of him peeing in the bathtub. You realize right then “okay, there’s no holds barred in this flick”. From there, it goes on to tell a pretty sordid and complex tale. It says a lot about you, however, if you can’t get past the nudity and explicit sex to truly enjoy the film itself. That’s partially why I went – just to see how I would handle such a thing. People often think that if there were XXX-style sex in a movie, everything else about the film would be overshadowed. See this movie, and you’ll get your answer to that theory.
If you’re at all adverse to gay sex, sexuality, erect penises, vaginal secretions, swing culture, etc. then you’re probably going to want to avoid this film. If the thought of three guys having a threesome wherein one of the guys is singing the National Anthem into another one’s asshole while doing the “rusty trombone” maneuver and everyone’s sucking and jerking each other off in full close-up, porn-style fashion – you might want to avoid the film.
However, if you have an open mind and you want to see someone truly make a movie that makes no apologies and breaks more taboos than you’ve likely ever seen before (in non-XXX cinema, anyway) then you’ll enjoy the film.
As an amusing afterthought, being pretty overwhelmed by the sheer joy of the finale scene, I walked out of the theatre and ran into an old friend of mine. He and his fiance invited me to a swingers party on Saturday. In the past, I’ve turned such offers down. But, having just seen “Shortbus”, I realized.. I need to get out more. I told him to count me in, but that I’d likely just stand around and watch and be fascinated.
Don’t worry. I’ll blog about that, too ;)
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