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We now come to another example of mainstream cinema that contains explicit sexual content.  Just like 9 Songs, Romance, Intimacy, and The Brown Bunny, this film’s unrated status should be considered NC-17.  Writer and director John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) has fashioned an exploration of the universal human need to find love, enjoy a meaningful relationship, and accept oneself.  He examines those needs substantially through sex and independent of sexual orientation.  In Shortbus, sex is a mirror of relationships and self-esteem.  There are peripheral characters that influence the protagonists, but there are only three primary story arcs. 

Sofia (Sook-Yin Lee) and Rob (Raphael Barker) are married and seem to have a very lively sex life.  But it soon becomes clear that the athleticism and imaginative nature of their sex-play lacks intimacy.  Despite her expertise as a sex therapist, Sofia hides a frustrating secret.  She’s never had an orgasm.  Sofia fakes it, of course, and she says and does all the right things to satisfy her man, but climaxing has become her obsession.  She doesn’t yet realize that her orgasm is lock stepped with her emotions, and she has issues with her husband’s behaviors.

James (Paul Dawson) and Jamie (PJ DeBoy) are in a monogamous relationship, but the men have a problem.  James can’t seem to return Jamie’s love.  He’s damaged goods with a history of male prostitution - Jamie prefers the term “escort.”  James used to troll for men who wanted an encounter and were willing to pay for it.  He suffers from gay guilt, and it isn’t clear whether his guilt proceeded the trolling or followed it.  His history has a devastating effect on his self-esteem.  He’s on Zoloft, a drug that’s prescribed for depression, social anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive behavior, and a number of other disorders, but the medication hasn’t helped him overcome a very fundamental emotional block.  Unless he can learn to love himself, he can’t learn to accept the love of another.  James suggests to Jamie that they date others, ostensibly to help their relationship, but James has an ulterior motive.

Severin (Lindsay Beamish) is a professional dominatrix; she satisfies clients who need verbal and physical abuse.  We meet her as she interacts with a John named Jesse (Adam Hardman).  Her behavior is a reflection of yet another psychological barrier: fear.  She must be in control and will not risk the vulnerabilities of a loving relationship.  During an awkward session in a sensory depravation tank with Sofia, Severin’s questions reveal more than any of her admissions.  It’s likely that she was abused as a child and she’s retreated into her role as dominatrix to distance herself emotionally and sexually from anyone who could possibly hurt her.  Her inflicting abuse may be an instinctive reaction to having been a victim of abuse. 

The catalyst that brings these people together and the means they use for self- exploration is Shortbus, an underground club where gays, lesbians, and heteros meet to talk, drink, enjoy pretentious art and music, make connections, share intimate details of their lives, and, if the mood strikes them, jump into a huge orgy of group sex.  The very nature of the openness at Shortbus - sexual and otherwise - creates situations and interactions that have profound effects on all the principal characters. 

The main performers are all uniformly believable and quite natural, perhaps unusual considering the circumstances portrayed onscreen.  The secondary characters and the extras (or sextras, as the filmmakers prefer) are also remarkably comfortable in their roles.  Despite the weightiness of the underlying themes, the film bristles with cutting wit, particularly from the more flamboyant.  It’s a surrealistic trip.  Sofia resembles Alice in Wonderland, a visitor to a very strange land who will come away a changed woman.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 has been expanded to fill DVD’s 1.78:1 anamorphic video frame.  I was quite surprised by the reasonable quality of the images in this low budget production.  Color accuracy is quite good based on natural skin tones (and there is a lot of skin).  The images are a little on the soft side, with consequentially reduced finely grained textures and modest small object detail.  But edge halos have all but been banished.  So we’re left with a moderately film-like presentation that has the look of 16 mm.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is overwhelmingly front centric.  This is another dialog- driven film and sound effects, deep bass, and surround effects become less relevant.  The dialog was predominantly (if not exclusively) recorded practically; and considering the lack of looping, the spoken word remains remarkably intelligible throughout.  The film’s music is leaked into the surrounds to create a very broad soundstage, but other than that, the ears are drawn to the front of the theater. 

An alternate track is in English; it’s Dolby Stereo.  Subtitles are in Spanish and French.  Also included are English Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

The disc opens with a ThinkFilm trailer gallery, but this can be skipped and saved for later; the trailers are available from a separate menu entry.

The first real supplement is a commentary by John Cameron Mitchell, the flamboyant Justin Bond, Sook-Yin Lee, Paul Dawson, and PJ DeBoy.  This conversation is no less intimate, revealing, and occasionally witty as the film.  The listener comes away with the impression that these are people who truly like one another.  The usual topics are covered, but there is so much more.  There is a bit of factual overlap with the very good making-of documentary, things like how the script was a product of the actors working with the director rather than the screenplay being written in advance.  The warm commentary is full of anecdotes and trivia.  For example, Sofia will find her orgasm by film’s end, and to portray that climax (pun intended), Sook-Yin Lee wanted the on-camera orgasm to be real.  She was placed alone on a room with a camera mounted above her and focused on her face.  She used her favorite vibrator, which she must really enjoy; she gave the editors six successful takes from which to choose.

The Gifted and Talented: The Making of Shortbus documentary (30:32) traces the unusual development and shooting of the film.  Of particular interest was the means by which the cast and extras were found and hired.  Tapes of interested performers discussing sexual experiences were solicited and evaluated; a surprisingly large number were received.  Once the cast was set, Mitchell ran a series of workshops, having the actors adlib and develop lines based on his general outline.  This was done on several occasions and the script was developed from those sessions.  I was pleased to learn that the cast and sextras were all tested for STDs before filming began; one can hope that they avoided outside unsafe sexual contact during the shoot.  The documentary follows the development from script to financing to shoot to a triumphant showing at Cannes.

How to Shoot Sex: A Docu-Primer (8:16) is a short featurette that is less of a making-of than it is a behind the scenes look at the filming of the group sex.  To put his performers at ease, Mitchell and his camera operator stripped down as well; in fact, Mitchell may be seen in the crowd.  I came away with the distinct impression that the participants didn’t need much encouragement.

Deleted and Extended Scenes (29:53, aggregate runtime with the handy Play All option) are available with optional commentary.  Most are very worthy and were trimmed for pace or to maintain the focus on the principal story arcs.  I particularly liked the extended scene in the Shortbus lesbian lair and the conversation between Justin and Sofia as they watched the group sex.

The Theatrical Trailer (3:06), the NC-17 Internet Trailer (3:22), and Teaser Trailer (0:44) are actually a little more entertaining than typical trailers.  I smiled at the single word tag line. 

The ThinkFilm trailer gallery (6:37) includes Candy, Off The Black, Terry Gilliam’s Tideland, and Lie With Me.

Last is an odd little thank you (2:21) to the Shortbusers “who helped to spread the word about the Shortbus DVD.”  It’s a scrolling list of innumerable names scored by a song from the film.

The 102- minute film is organized into twenty chapters.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

None are included on this disc.