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 enlarge | Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Actors: Sook-yin Lee, Paul Dawson, Lindsay Beamish, Pj Deboy, Raphael Barker
Studio: Velocity / Thinkfilm
Category: DVD
List Price: $27.98
Buy New: $19.76
You Save: $8.22 (29%)
New (22) Used (8) from $19.76
Rating:  138 reviews
Sales Rank: 1389
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Anamorphic
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 102 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 821575550758
UPC: 821575550758
EAN: 0821575550758
ASIN: B000LAZDQA
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
Release Date: March 13, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW, FACTORY SEALED, WE GUARANTEE OUR PRODUCTS, SHIPS SAME OR NEXT DAY
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| Customer Reviews:
 I loved Hedwig. I tried hard to like Shortbus. July 28, 2008
J. Martin (Upstate New York)
John Cameron Mitchell's first movie, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, is one of the most original, interesting, and entertaining movies I've ever seen, so I expected to like Shortbus, his second movie. It pains me to say that I don't. I wanted to, I tried hard to, but I don't. Maybe because of Hedwig my expectations were too high. br / br /I just don't understand Shortbus at all. I never understood Hedwig either, although I saw it six or seven times live in New York and dozens of times on film and DVD, but not understanding Hedwig didn't keep me from loving it. Maybe if I'd ever really understood Hedwig I might understand and appreciate Shortbus too. I didn't, so I don't know. Paraphrasing Hedwig, I don't have much to work with. br / br /Somewhere in the Shortbus DVD extras, Mitchell said he wanted to do with sex in Shortbus what he did with music in Hedwig. That implies that the two movies might be fundamentally similar but using different media: music in Hedwig, sex in Shortbus. Okay. br / br /So, since I don't understand either movie, the difference for me comes down to the difference in media. The problem is that Stephen Trask's music for Hedwig was brilliant, moving, and exhilarating, but the sex in Shortbus is just boring. Mechanical, uninspired and uninspiring, tedious. Like watching robots have sex. Maybe that's how Mitchell meant it to be, maybe he's trying to make some point that I just don't get, but the bottom line for me is it just doesn't make a good movie. br / br /I have to say, though, there is one very, very good five-minute scene in Shortbus. It's when the characters played by Paul Dawson and Lindsay Beamish are locked together in a closet during a game of Truth or Dare. That scene is sweet, moving, perfectly constructed and paced and infinitely accessible. I can watch it over and over and over and never get tired of it at all. If the whole movie had been half as good as that scene is, I'd be raving about it and wanting more than five stars to give it, but it's not. br / br /Also on the positive side, Jay Brannan is luminous in his few scenes (and in the DVD outtake called "Are you sure you don't want to **** me?"). Unfortunately, his best scenes in the movie are shared with the unwatchably creepy, lizard-like mayor played by Alan Mandell (and it's not because he's old). br / br /And talk about creepy, I don't understand what anybody sees in Justin Bond. He may be a delightful person when he's at home, but listening to his whiny, grating voice drawl out that awful, interminable musical number "In the End," which bloats out the last four hours (it seems like) of the movie, that's like water torture! br / br /So, even though I'm seriously disappointed in Shortbus, I'm giving it two stars: one for Dawson, Beamish, and Brannan; and the other for Hedwig, who may be lurking somewhere in Shortbus and I just haven't found her yet. I intend to keep looking.
 This film is....um....penetrating! July 9, 2008
Steven Rage (Harborside-Phoenix-Exploring the Inner Hell we have all Created)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This film was like being dosed and getting lost back stage at an Elton John concert. Whether you think it a bad trip or good depends on your own sexual set of pathos. However, any non-porno film that showcases self-fellatio replete with facial, shoooo.....got my vote. If only I could do that, I wouldn't be writing this right now....hells, YEAH!!PILATE: A Brutal Bible Tale
 Provocative June 30, 2008
Melinda Stone
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have to say this film was erotically stimulating but I am unclear as to the various story lines what the characters were trying to achieve. Provocative topic...sexuality and relationships...but I really thought it was more of an art film (visual) than a film to question our own lives with.
I LOVE this film! June 30, 2008
Kerry Walters (Lewisburg, PA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Some have branded John Cameron Mitchell's "Shortbus" as pornographic. I'm not sure what they (or any of us, for that matter) mean by "pornography," but I suspect that people who apply the word to "Shortbus" intend it as a synonym for "sex." There's lots of sex in "Shortbus," but it's sex that's celebratory, fun, funny, poignant, self-revealing, and loving. br / br /Humans are sexual creatures, and our sexuality is irreducibly connected to our personal identities, our ability to love (as well as our ability to hate), and our need for companionship as social animals. In "Shortbus," the complexity of sexuality is explored through several interrelated story lines: Sophia's (masterfully played by Sook-Yin Lee) search for satisfaction, Jamie's (P.J. DeBoy) and James' (Paul Dawson) almost tragic but ultimately fruitful love for one another, Severin's (Lindsay Beamish) fear of intimacy, and drag performance artist Justin Bond's wonderfully exuberant celebration of human love in all its manifestations. One particularly touching scene is an encounter between an "ex-mayor of NYC," a gay, thinly disguised Koch, who reflects on loneliness, aging, and AIDS. br / br /The film's dialogue is witty at times, poignant at others. The actors are all, without exception, quite good. The cinematography is superb. The presentation is uninhibited, honest, funny, and thought-provoking. If this is pornography, hurrah for porn.
Brilliant June 5, 2008
Charleen Merced (Newington, CT and sometimes in Puerto Rico)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This movie is simply phenomenal. The movie is about human relations with oneself, each other and about sex. The movie attempts to de-mystify and de-eroticize sex in such a splendid and matter of fact way that it succeeds, and while doing so manages to make a great film. br / br /"Shortbus" is about several characters. Sofia is a sex therapist who has never had an orgasm, James is a gay man in a great relationship but suffering from depression and Severin is a dominatrix who is unable to have a meaningful relationship with anyone. Along with other minor and major characters, these people interact with each other, changing for the better or the worse each other's lives and sex lives. br / br /This movie is so amazingly touching and moving that I found myself completely absorbed by the characters and their stories. I was completely immersed in their compelling and interesting stories, being the joy and sadness along them. The movie, which has mostly first time or little known actors is frankly, simply brilliant. br / br /Although the movie is about sex, depicts real un-simulated sex and sex is the main topic, it actually is about something else, something deeper: it is about human relationships. As another reviewer mentioned, this movie will not be enjoyed by those at issue with sex on movies or gay scenes; but, everyone else, this is a great great and, let me say it again, great movie.
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