Shortbus (2006)

A group of New Yorkers caught up in their romantic-sexual milieu converge at an underground salon infamous for its blend of art, music, politics, and carnality.

Director:

John Cameron Mitchell

Writer:

John Cameron Mitchell

Stars:

Sook-Yin Lee, Peter Stickles, PJ DeBoy

7 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sook-Yin Lee	...	Sofia
Paul Dawson	...	James
Lindsay Beamish	...	Severin
PJ DeBoy	...	Jamie
Raphael Barker	...	Rob
Peter Stickles	...	Caleb, the Stalker
Jay Brannan	...	Ceth
Alan Mandell	...	Tobias, the Mayor
Adam Hardman	...	Jesse, the John
Ray Rivas	...	Shabbos Goy
Bitch	...	Bitch / Shortbus House Band
Shanti Carson	...	Leah, the Beautiful Couple
Justin Hagan	...	Brad
Jan Hilmer	...	Nick, the Beautiful Couple
Stephen Kent Jusick	...	Creamy

Storyline

Numerous New York City dwellers come to the exclusive club Shortbus to work out problems in their sexual relationships. Rob and Sophia are a happily married couple, except for the fact that she has never experienced sexual climax. This irony follows her to work because she is a couples counselor who frequently has to deal with the sexual issues other couples have. Two of her patients are Jamie and James, a gay couple who have been monogamous for five years and counting. James wants to bring other men in to the relationship, and his own history with depression may hint at an ulterior motive. Ceth (pronounced Seth) may be the perfect addition to their family, but Caleb, a voyeur from across the street, may have his own ideas about that. Sophia visits Severin, a dominatrix with secrets of her own to reveal.

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Plot Keywords:

ejaculation | male frontal nudity | unsimulated sex | controversy | oral sex | 

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Taglines:

Voyeurism is Participation

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Bim Distribuzione [Italy]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 October 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Sex Film Project

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$107,907 (USA) (6 October 2006)

Gross:

$1,984,378 (USA) (2 February 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

THINKFilm, Fortissimo Films, Q Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In Sofia's office, the large framed characters on the wall behind her spell 'Help Me' in Chinese.

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Goofs

When viewing his profile Ceth reads Magnum's "measurements". An important one is listed as 15cm, which receives a gasp from Sofia. In reality 15cm is a bit under 6 inches, which is about average.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Jesse, the John: Are you a top or a bottom?
Severin: I beg your pardon?
Jesse, the John: I mean in real life.
Severin: This is real life.
Jesse, the John: Let me put it this way: do you think we should get out of Iraq?

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Crazy Credits

The orgy participants seen throughout Club Shortbus are credited as 'Sextras' at the end of the film.

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Connections

Referenced in G.B.F. (2013)

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Soundtracks

Sweet Road
Performed by Animal Collective
Written by David Portner and Noah Lennox
Published by Avey beartongs (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Fat Cat Records

User Reviews

Life and love in the New York City universe of the ultra-cool

Brilliant directing and writing by John Cameron Mitchell (he gave us "Hedwig"), and great acting from everyone, especially Justin Bond, Lindsay Beamish, Paul Dawson and PJ Deboy. Great musical numbers too! You'll laugh and cry, and come away wanting to see it again immediately. Much has been made of a few rather intimate and well-lit sex scenes, but if anyone over 16 can't handle them, he or she shouldn't be out at night.

It's all ultimately wondrous, and one of the great revelations of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, where the audiences tend to be snotty and conspicuously unimpressed--but the screening of this movie was followed by parades and parties in the streets, with people carrying the stars on their shoulders, like they used to do with Verdi on opening nights in Milan. Lynne Cheney, sly pornographer that she is, will be eating her heart out that someone has gotten at last to the real g-spot of the cosmos, and it wasn't she what did it.

Love may be grim at times, kind of like Kansas, but Mitchell turns it into technicolor. Just like magic.