A noteworthy aspect of John Cameron Mitchell’s film Shortbus is that it contains explicit sex. Only a handful of serious films (films that, unlike pornography, attempt more than sexual excitation) have included explicit sex. The most noteworthy aspect of Shortbus is that it gives us explicit, realistic sex in which the participants benefit sexually and psychologically from the sex.
There is a gathering place called Shortbus inside the movie Shortbus. The characters gather there to explore themselves (their sexuality, their psyches), to express themselves artistically, to socialize, and to do all of this openly. The story is set in New York sometime between September 11th, 2001 and the Northeast Blackout of 2003.
A variety of characters (of various genders, sexual preferences, races, body types, etc.) ends up at Shortbus. One of them is Sofia. Sofia is a couples counselor and she feels that her inability to achieve orgasm may be an insurmountable obstacle between her and happiness with her husband, Rob. After a consultation, one of Sofia’s couples suggests that one of the sexually liberated Shortbus passengers might solve her orgasm problem. Severin could be such a passenger. Severin is a dominatrix-for-hire who goes to Shortbus to try to make a significant connection with another human being. She admits at one point that the longest relationship she’s had has been with her current masochistic john. Another passenger is James. James is no stranger to johns. As a young man, he began accepting money for sex after getting ideas from My Own Private Idaho. James has mostly put that behind him, though. His problem is that he has a deep depression that he feels incapable of overcoming. This is dismaying to his long-time boyfriend, Jamie. Jamie accompanies James to Shortbus in hopes of raising James’s spirits. Caleb lives across the street from the two men and spies on them in his free time. Caleb isn’t sure that the Shortbus folk are right for James and Jamie.
