SHORTBUS

Shortbus is not a movie for the weak at heart or the narrow-minded. It is, however, a movie for those of us who embrace alternative lifestyles, and sexuality as a complex and wondrous thing.

Shortbus is explicitly sexual, and very real, set against a surreal backdrop of New York that adds visually to the film in so many ways. I have yet to find a mainstream American film that attempts so directly to open the public’s eyes to the sex-positive culture.

Sure, the main character (Vancouver media personality, Sook-Yin Lee) is a sex therapist (“I prefer the term couples counsellor…”) who, although enjoying a rather uninhibited sexual relationship with her husband, has never had an orgasm.

Sure, the other main characters - a gay couple seeking an open relationship and a pro-domme who only wants to create art - are not exactly living examples of well-balanced, sexually fulfilled adults.

Sure, there is blatant desperation in the way they seek to achieve their individual goals.

However, the message Shortbus is hoping to make, is that there’s a place for everyone in this world, no matter how offbeat, or damaged we may be, if we can just stop trying so hard to reach for it. Everyone has a right, and the ability, to seek human comfort and sexual satisfaction…but success only comes - no pun intended - when we slow down and find peace within ourselves.

It’s an important message for those of us hoping to get the most of this new sexual revolution. As Sook-Yin’s character, Sofia, points outs, it isn’t something someone can give us, it’s something we have to claim for ourselves.

Shortbus is both beautiful and agonizing to watch. The psyches are as bare as the bodies in this film, and just as contorted as they struggle to reach satisfaction. These awkward moments make the film’s scenes of human compassion and compersion all the more sublime to watch.

Sook-Yin Lee, is, in turns, lovely, funny and horrible to watch, as she labours to reach what she is beginning to think is, at best a mythical thing, and at worst, a conspiracy to make women feel inadequate.

Jay Brannan is especially engaging as Ceth; his sweet charismatic face and musical talent strike a lovely graceful note in this movie. His performance left me hungry for more of him. He’s a sweet piece of fag candy, that boy!

The infamous Justin Bond, playing himself, is the proprietor for this “salon for the gifted and challenged” and his wisecracking, quirky humour is a nice sub-note to the whole movie. I especially love his bittersweet performance of the song In The End that underscores the climax of the movie.

In fact the music through-out the film is just fantastic. But after all, the director of Shortbus is John Cameron Mitchell (of Hedwig fame) so I expected no less.

Of course, many people won’t grasp the concepts Shortbus seems to be making, but for those of us who do, it’s a celebration of sex as a healing force, and an orgy of delight for the eyes and the ears.

Gather your favourite sexy friends together, with your favourite beverages, and rent Shortbus. It’s a juicy good time, and deserves to be shared.

Reviewed: April 2008

Shortbus' IMDB site.

MAITRESSE

(Maitresse - French for Mistress)

This French film from the 70's is well worth a watch.

Since the French are far less squeamish about sex and kink in their films Maitresse lacks the cloying morality and censurious tentativeness of North American film-making.

A thief (played by a young and surprisingly buff and sexy Gerard Depardieu) gets more than he bargains for when he breaks into a house only to find the owner is a pro-dominitrix.

Fascinated by her as much as by her dungeon he becomes persistent in his attentions, and the resulting dysfunctional relationship takes them both on an intriguing, often obsessive journey.

Don't expect to see safe scenes of bondage or humiliation in this film. It's raw and unrealistic in terms of today's Safe, Sane, and Consensual dogma. But for anyone willing to put aside political correctness in favour of art and entertainment, Maitresse is a memorable and evocative film.

Depardieu plays his part as a rough and unsophisticated man who is quite in over his head. The director eschews the North American protocol of making the hero of the film upright and completely likable. Depardieu is real, not a storybook character. Love will not conquer all, nor do the characters really even believe it will. They are driven by deep desires and motivations they only partly understand; in essence, human above all else.

Pro-domme Ariane (played in delightful Emma Peel fashion by actress Bulle Olgier) is not looking for a saviour; she’s just trying to survive the best way she knows how. No damsel in distress, but no superwoman either. She’s not even sure she wants what Olivier (Depardieu) hopes to give her…freedom from a life he views as simple prostitution.

The dungeon is mouth-wateringly sinister, Olgier’s fetish outfits are straight out of the fantasies of most men. This film is not candy, but it can certainly be sweet on the eyes.

Watch it for Depardieu's once amazing body if nothing else.

Maitresse's imbd site.

BOUND

Sexy suspense story entwines a hot lesbian affair with a mobster. Delicious!

(More indepth review to follow...Please check back.)

Bound's imdb site.

SECRETARY

This daring and sexy film featuring James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhall is controversial, even in the D/s community it seeks to shed some light on.

Now, I've always been a fan of James Spader, and I've long believed he was up to delivering a pretty hot spanking, but in this film he proves that either he is as kinky as they get, or he is the Marlon Brando of kinky films.

Lawyer E. Edward Grey (Spader) wallows in angst while struggling to resist both his own nature and that of his lost and emotionally fragile secretary.

Lee Holloway (Gyllenhall) is more than just emotionally fragile. She has a family history that has pushed her beyond her coping skills, and finds relief in self-inflicting small body harm upon herself. Lee is a cutter, plain and simple.

She’s also determined to leave her mental illness behind, to have what she perceives as a perfect, normal life - dull, quiet, boring, and employed.

You engage with Lee from the moment the film opens. She’s fragile, painfully introverted, and yet so resolute that you truly want her to succeed.

Grey is a harder character to relate to. His mood swings, his obsessive-compulsiveness, and his own angst make him almost impossible to quite figure out. He’s an enigma, even to himself.

Through their interaction Lee and Grey must come to terms with their desires, and each other’s desires. They struggle with the urge to conform to what they perceive as a normal life, denying themselves the right to be who they really are.

What makes this film controversial for the D/s community is that Lee, a masochist and submissive, has a history of mental instability and self-harm. Many people see this as a way of casting submissive and masochistic tendencies in a pathological way.

I disagree. I believe the film honours Lee in her search to direct her need for pain and strong guidance into a healthy outlet. It shows her researching the world of submission and masochism, exploring it, and finally accepting that this is who she is, and that she has every right to seek happiness.

Grey, as well, grows into his own when he accepts – after much struggle and soul-searching – his sadistic, dominant nature.

Secretary is a love story. A quirky, kinky, funny love story that touches the roots of who we are and how we seek to fill needs we don’t even understand.

It’s also full of some very sexy moments for those of us who like our passion with a dark edge. It touched on some pretty common and hot fantasies without apology. Few kinksters walked away unmoved by the interplay between Lee and Grey.

I stand by it wholeheartedly.

Secretary’s IMBD site.