Last week in our International Film Studies class, we watched a film by the title of Shortbus, which was directed by John Cameron Mitchell in 2006. The film was interesting to say the least, and without a doubt unlike any other type of film I had ever seen before. Although it was hard for me to realize during the initial viewing of the film, I really came to enjoy the fact about how deeply the film was focusing on the feelings of the characters. Other than that opinion, I was more intrigued by the making of the film, especially the long process and the non-traditional actors that were cast.
The first scenes of Shortbus, and several scenes thereafter throughout the film, are sexually explicit scenes; it was evident from the beginning that the film would not be handling sexual scenes the same way as a “typical Hollywood film.” Because of this, in the beginning I started to believe that maybe the only thing Shortbus was about, and the only thing it was going to focus on at all, was the sex; and there undoubtedly was not much to make me believe otherwise at several points in the film. However, a turning point struck for me when Sophia, the highly sexual couple’s counselor in the movie, admitted to Severitt that she was pre-orgasmic and decided to face her “issues” head on and try to denote the real problem. It was when Sophia made this admittance, and throughout the rest of the film as other characters faced their troubles as well, that I began to switch opinions and ultimately realized that perhaps Shortbus was actually more about the feelings rather than “just the sex.”
Although it was mentioned before we began viewing the film in class, I didn’t realize until after watching Shortbus the extent of work the director, John Cameron Mitchell, and the rest of the crew underwent to prepare to begin filming. As discussed in the extras of the film’s DVD, the initial process began in 2003, meaning they worked for 3 years before the film was released in 2006. They also didn’t write the story or put together the actual plot until the cast was set, which I found very interesting being that a typical film would be the reversed process, the story and the characters in it usual comes before the actors are cast.
Going along with the unusual making and creative style of Shortbus, I was also very intrigued by the fact that the film’s cast was compiled of non-professional actors. While many of them were various types of performance artists, or other personas in pop culture, their acting resumes weren’t very hefty. I think it was a bold move, and it ultimately worked out very well because even if I hadn’t been told prior to watching the film I don’t think it was a great detail that I would have picked up on. As mentioned earlier, once the untraditional cast for Shortbus was cast, it was then that the cast and crew got together and put the storyline into place.
While the film may not be something that I will go back and view often in the years to come, it will for sure be something that I will be able to compare other films to in the future. I am happy to have had the opportunity to study a film of this type and with such details because I feel that it has broadened my opinions when it comes to the intensity of feelings within movies.
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