Queer Beacon

Shortbus (2006) - LightShed 10

I was expecting way more from Shortbus.  The movie was okay, it wasn't bad, but I was expecting something of the caliber of Hedwig, and Shortbus is amateurish in comparison with John Cameron Mitchell's debut.

In Shortbus, we follow a bunch of people who are experimenting with their sexuality in an attempt to find happiness and let people penetrate them, emotionally.  In New York.  Cute, right?

The main characters in Shortbus include Sook-Yin Lee, playing a sex therapist who never had an orgasm, and Paul Dawson and PJ DeBoy, playing a gay couple entertaining an open relationship. 

I knew about all the genitalia in the movie, erections everywhere, orgies and all, and I went into the movie thinking it was really just going to be an excellent mainstream porn movie.  But it is not at all like that, you should really believe when you read the movie is about sexuality, not porn.  Although the countless sex scenes are very candid, you don't really see porn anywhere.  Most of those scenes carry a quite heavy emotional content. 

I guess for that reason alone the movie deserves to be seen.

You see all sorts of sexual orientations in Shortbus, and although some of the scenes may be a tad shocking (nothing too bad though I don't think), the positive message of acceptance was everywhere.

The soundtrack was superb.  I can't wait for it to come out on November 7.  I saw the movie in the Vancouver International Film Festival, but you can check if it's playing in a theater near you, here.

Unfortunately, most of the reviews I read were harsh.  The trailer is here.

The Brown Bunny (2004) - No Gay Content

Very boring.  This could have been an outstanding short movie, but as a full length flick it was barely watchable. 

In The Brown Bunny, we see that Vincent Gallo's character is a troubled motorcycle racer.  He is trying to get over a girl and we follow him in his journey from New Hampshire (he had a race there) back home to California.  He makes a few stops along the way, makes small talk with a few girls, but during most of the movie we only see him driving, and pensive. 

It was all very artsy, and you may like it actually, the scenes were mostly beautiful, introspective, and either quiet or with a nice soundtrack.  But none of that worked for me -- not much happens most of the time.  I do know this is the whole point of this type of 'artsy' movie, I guess you are supposed to just see how the character is dealing with his issues, in a quiet manner, but again, not for me  -- I prefer to see a little more action.

I say The Brown Bunny could have been a truly excellent short film because the little that does happen in the movie, the little actual acting involved, the little lines delivered, were all superb.  Every cameo was perfect.  Chloë Sevigny's small amount of screen time, unforgettable.  But again, the movie is very boring in between the real action scenes.

The controversial and much talked about scene is really explicit.  In the scene, a sex scene of course, Chloe gives Vincent a blow job -- and she really does blow Vincent Gallo.  Totally "I can't believe it's not porn" material.  You can get a glimpse of that scene, including Vincent Gallo's erect shaft, here (certainly not safe for work!). 

No gay content.

Lie With Me (2005) - LightShed 6

This one just broke the mediocre barrier, but it did.  It's a good movie.

Here, Lauren Lee Smith is a super slut.  She has never had an actual date.  All she wants is anonymous, protected (yay!), sex.  Think Sex and the City's Samantha and multiply that by a thousand.  That's Lauren Lee Smith's character. 

She goes around town whoring it up, and she meets Eric Balfour.  She has her first date with him and they like each other.  But will her whore instincts be stronger than what she has with Eric?

Eric is hot in Lie With Me.  This is one sexy movie.

"Down on my knees for the very first time I remember there was all this hair in my mouth. I didn't think that was what it would feel like and the guy kept forcing himself in my face saying "please, please, please." He sounded like a little girl...I didn't know if I was supposed to close my eyes or keep them open."  That's a line from out slutina. 

The soft, mellow tunes were excellent.

This is the first movie in our I Can't Believe It's Not Porn category. 

I have never seen so much penis and vagina in a movie.  Ever.  You will not believe the amount of dick time Eric Balfour gets.  You see his erect penis for chrissake!  Fully erect.  You can try to watch that scene here (probably not for long though -- it's really explicit, be warned).

We see another guy's dick too (that's Michael Facciolo, who seems better equipped than Eric by the way), and quite a lot of Lauren's vagina.

With all that sex going on, all we got was a tiny bit of content for our gay movie review.  In one scene, Lauren Lee's mother is talking about her new place and she mentions her new landlord is nice, and that he lives downstairs with his boyfriend.  Excellent, even if very short (that's why the LightShed score was not higher).

GaySay: "Why is sex on film necessarily pornographic?"

The line is from John Cameron Mitchell in the May 22, 2006 issue of The New York Times:

John did pretty much everything in one of my very favorite movies of all times: Hedwig and The Angry Inch.  I listen to the soundtrack quite often. It's superb.

Well, a nice GaySay like that inspired me to create a new category here at Queer Beacon: "I Can't Believe It's Not Porn!"  Coming soon.