A naked man trying to give himself...ahem, a blow job by bending his body in a very yogic way, which generates so much laughter from us, the audience. Another scene intersects, depicting an Asian woman engaged in various Karma-Sutra like sexual positions with her husband to achieve what we call 'canal bliss' (in the tone of polite and upper-class kind of way). Then, there is another scene followed, a punk-looking woman whipping up the 'cream', I mean whipping up a man's butt SM style with her punk outfit full on. Yes, this is hardcore compares to the usual cinematic standard. This is what I call cinematic liberty.
There I was, taking all these in at Bangkok International Film Festival (19-29 Jul 2007). Yet, there is something so engaging about this movie, surprisingly not so much about the over-the-top sex scenes. James (Paul Dawson), the naked man starts weeping soon after he has an ejaculation.
Sofia (Sook-Yin Lee), a sex therapist but she prefers to call herself a couple therapist, can't have orgasm and have been faking it. The punk prostitute has a thing for photography that she takes Polaroid photos of people she meets. She is an artsy social outcast to be exact.
Oddly enough, in life, the very people we often find easy to bare our naked heart completely are the strangers we meet in strange places under strange circumstances. This is exactly what happens next in the movie. James and Jamie (PJ DeBoy, they are partners in real life), the gay couple goes for counseling session conducted by Sofia. The counseling session turns out to be a disaster that Sofia reveals her I-can't-have-orgasm secret to the couple.
So, all of them end up at Shortbus, a New York underground salon in a Parisian tradition hosted by Robin Bond (Robin Bond), the oh so flamboyant transsexual. When Sofia arrives at Shortbus, Justin takes her on a tour, showing her a room where orgies are taking centre stage. There are musicians, singers, performers entertaining the crowd who are there to talk about politic, arts and sex in the most theatrical kind of way, of course. There, Sofia finds comfort in peoples who try to help her on her quest for orgasm; among them are Severin (Lindsay Beamish), the punk prostitute. At one scene, Sofia requests Justin to kiss her, so both of them starts kissing sensually in the most unexpected way.
There is a scene where Ceth, an ex model (played by singer-songwriter Jay Brannan) listens attentively to an old man who happens to be the former Mayor of New York. "People are so unforgiving." he puts it. He is blamed for not doing enough to curb HIV and Aids problems when he was a Mayor. He explains that there was only so little that people knew what to do back then but he had done his best. Then, the pretty young man with eyes filled with tears, leaning over to kiss the old man while everyone is watching them. By then, tears have streamed down from my eyes.
Ceth eventually hooks up with James and Jamie. At the couple's place, the pretty young man starts strumming the guitar and singing a very melodic song for the couple. That is almost child-like and innocent. Then, the mood takes a turn when they go on to engage in a hilarious threesome sexcapade.
Sofia's canal problem has been affecting her well being. Obviously, Sofia and her husband are sexually incompatible but they still put up with each other sexually in order to save the marriage. On the other hand, James is pushed into being gay by forced circumstances because he was a male prostitute. Yet, he knows that Jamie loves him so much that he has to continue being a faking gay.
This is a heart-wrenching movie with a lot of dark humor thrown in to slightly minimize the intensity. Every sex scene seems to convey a painful reality that many of us try to dismiss. This is a movie that is going to make you weep and sob silly and you don't even know why. Perhaps, it is like a blow on our heads that it makes us realize that many of us have been struggling really hard to come to terms with our own sexuality simply because we live in a very judgmental and unforgiving society. We have to really cross the religious and social barriers to truly understand the humanity portrayed in this movie. Sad but true, not many of us do. It is a miracle itself that a porn-chic movie as such can be so thought-provoking. Thanks to the director John Cameron Mitchell for being the savior of American indie film industry.
