Shortbus
Release Date:
October 6, 2006
Limited release
In 2001, John Cameron Mitchell captured attention and turned heads with a theatrical adaptation of his own stage musical, Hedwig and the Angry Inch. After winning the Audience Award and the Director's Award at Sundance, Mitchell went on to engage audiences and take a number of festival prizes, culminating in a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. For those unfamiliar with the movie musical, it was a daring project that had Mitchell portraying a transexual punk rocker who tells her life story.
It took five years for Mitchell to make his way back to the big screen, which comes in the form of Shortbus. This film examines the lives of a variety of New Yorkers as they explore the very fine lines - both funny and tragic - between love and sex. All of these characters come together at an underground salon known as "Shortbus", a place where art, music, politics and sexual experimentation combine for one lusty experience.
Shortbus is unique in that each member of the ensemble cast is making his or her theatrical acting debut. Mitchell selected the actors by putting an open casting call on the film's Web site. Then, he chose from over 500 people who submitted videotapes of interviews and auditions, paring that number down to seven. The resulting movie wound up making quite an impression at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, and will likely be another project that maintains discussion and buzz for some years after its release - much like Hedwig before it. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
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