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Shortbus is a 2006 American erotic comedy-drama film written and directed by John Cameron Mitchell. The plot revolves around a sexually diverse ensemble of colorful characters trying desperately to connect in an early 2000s New York City. The characters converge in a weekly Brooklyn artistic/sexual salon loosely inspired by various underground NYC gatherings that took place in the early 2000s. According to Mitchell, the film attempts to "employ sex in new cinematic ways because it's too interesting to leave to porn." Shortbus includes a variety of explicit scenes containing Unsimulated sex sexual intercourse with visible penetration and male ejaculation.
James and Jamie meet a young ex-model and aspiring singer named Ceth (pronounced "Seth") and the three begin a sexual relationship. Meanwhile, James and Jamie's life is being closely watched by their across-the-street Stalking neighbor, Caleb. Caleb fears the inclusion of Ceth in James and Jamie's relationship might break them up and thus destroy his ability to live vicariously through them, so he attends Shortbus, where he confronts Ceth. Sofia begins to go daily to a spa with a sensory deprivation tank to meet with Severin, and the two begin to have intense conversations. Severin begins to help Sofia loosen up sexually; Sofia helps Severin achieve a deeper human connection than she had experienced before. One evening at Shortbus, Severin discusses with Sofia the idea of giving up sex work to pursue her dream of being an artist. The two then have an unplanned sexual experience, and once again Sofia is left unsatisfied.
Throughout the film, James is seen making a film about himself and his relationship. It turns out to be a suicide note. He attempts to take his own life and is rescued by Caleb, who calls for help, but is too embarrassed to wait with James for the help to arrive. He writes his phone number and email address on James' face while he is unconscious. When James wakes in the hospital, he calls Caleb. James goes to Caleb's home to be consoled, but does not contact Jamie or Ceth, neither of whom can understand why he would not call them or come home.
An interlocking trio of scenes shows connections between the characters' emotional problems and their sexual lives. At Caleb's house, he and James have sex, and James allows Caleb to penetrate him, something he has never allowed anyone to do before. Afterward, in a dramatic revelation, James is seen in the window of Caleb's apartment by Jamie, who realizes in that moment that James is alive and okay. Rob and Severin have a paid encounter where Rob asks to be flogged, something he could not ask Sofia to do. As this progresses, Severin loses control and Rob tries to comfort her. Sofia seems to have a dream of struggling through an overgrown, wild forested area to a gentle seashore where she tries to achieve orgasm again. On failing, she screams, and in the real world the lights go off across the city, seemingly caused by the simultaneous and collective frustration of the characters.
The film ends with a song by Justin Bond at Shortbus during the blackout. Sofia arrives and finds Rob with Severin and after acknowledging him sits down by herself. James and Jamie also arrive followed by Ceth and Caleb. Justin's song starts on a wistful note, but as it progresses it becomes more energetic and positive thanks to the arrival of the Hungry March Band. Jamie and James make out on the floor, and Ceth and Caleb start to hit it off. Rob starts kissing another patron, and Severin progresses from nervous anxiety to happy elation upon the arrival of the band. Sofia engages in a threesome with a couple (Nick and Leah) she has seen several times before and who appear to meet her prerequisite of "just beginning to experiment sexually". Sofia finally achieves an orgasm as the blackout ends and power returns to New York.
Much of the sex in the film is unsimulated. Mitchell says:
As indicated in the DVD special features, Sook-Yin Lee and Shanti Carson each suggested they be filmed having real orgasms rather than fake them, specifically for the final scene involving Lee and the orgy sequence involving Carson. Mitchell also participated in the latter scene, performing oral sex on a woman for the first time "as a gesture of solidarity".
The panoramic cityscape interspersed through the film was completely computer-generated and designed by John Bair.
In the opening sequence in which Sook-Yin Lee and Raphael Barker are engaged in a session of unsimulated vaginal intercourse, Lee wore a female condom. "They wanted to make sure it was safe sex, and it would look weird if my husband was wearing a condom," Lee explained.
Sook-Yin Lee said she had a boyfriend at the time of filming. She revealed he was "very supportive" regarding her real sex scenes with her "dear friend" Raphael Barker.
Mitchell said one of the things he wanted to depict in the film was a growing sense of disconnect between people due to the rise of Internet culture. Of one of the film's opening scenes where the character James cries immediately after masturbating alone on camera, Mitchell commented, "That, to me, is the strongest metaphor for how sad and lonely today's digital culture is."
Peter Travers from Rolling Stone commented "If there is such a thing as hard-core with a soft heart, this is it."
Writing for RogerEbert.com, Jim Emerson said, "the characters in Shortbus focus on sex as a way of getting through to each other, and getting in touch with themselves. It's a gleefully randy romantic roundelay, in the tradition of Max Ophuls' serially sexual French comedy La Ronde (1950). Polymorphously pornographic, sure; but it doesn't feel the slightest bit obscene. And that's a neat trick." He concluded, "And by the time Justin Bond's bullhorn baritone croons 'Everybody Gets It In the End', the thin characterizations and soapy sitcom plot contrivances melt away in a cleansing, melancholy humor, and you notice that something quite magical and moving -- and healing -- is taking place, for real, right before your eyes."
In a 2016 retrospective for the film's 10th anniversary, Hayden Manders of Nylon wrote, "Today...the movie's optimism and shamelessness feel as progressive as it does provocative. Since then, there hasn't been a movie that celebrates the body, and the joys and the ickiness of sex. What's more, it's a story about New York that's hardly told. (And New York stories are ultimately about all of us.) This one isn't glamorized or satirized. It seeks to harmonize."
Due to her participation in several unsimulated sex scenes in the film, Sook-Yin Lee was nearly fired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, for which she hosted the radio program Definitely Not the Opera at the time. Ultimately, she retained her job as the CBC relented in the face of support for Lee from the public, as well as from celebrities such as Gus Van Sant, Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Stipe, Moby, Julianne Moore and Yoko Ono.
The Korea Media Rating Board banned the film from public screenings in South Korea in 2007 for its sex scenes and gay content, although it still screened at film festivals not subject to the Board's authority. Sponge ENT, the film's South Korean distributor, filed suit and in 2009, the Supreme Court of Korea ordered the ban lifted, declaring the national film censorship law unconstitutional for its ambiguity.
Coinciding with the 15th anniversary, the film was made available as an online rental for the first time on all VOD platforms except for Amazon Prime, who rejected the film five times with the reasoning that the "captions are out of sync” and that the film contains “offensive content." Critics noted other films that feature scenes of unsimulated sex, such as Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac and Vincent Gallo's The Brown Bunny, have both been made available to rent on Prime's service. In response, Oscilloscope president Dan Berger stated, “There's no shortage of dicks readily available on Amazon, and apparently, there are plenty behind the scenes too. The prudishness and utter hypocrisy of refusing to carry this film — one that is the height of healthy representation, inclusiveness, and support for a community often persecuted — only further perpetuates abuse and they should be ashamed." Oscilloscope encouraged viewers to seek the film out on other VOD platforms besides Amazon Prime.
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