Destricted is an ongoing project of films that explore the line where art and pornography intersect. The UK and US film releases had overlapping but different film lineups.
The UK version released in 2006 includes 7 short films:
Destricted can be described as seven short art-house porn films. 'Impaled' by director Larry Clark shows a casting for a porn film, not with the insecure women often displayed, but instead with insecure young men. 'Balkan Erotic Epic' by director Marina Abramovic is an erotic comedy about myths from the Balkan around the sexual organs. 'House Call' (from Richard Prince) is a vintage sex scene and comes closest to pornography. 'Sync' (Marco Brambilla) only exists out of very fast cuts from different porn films and plays for about two minutes. 'Hoist' (Matthew Barney) is mostly an art film. 'Death Valley' opens with a beautiful shot, but then continues with an 8-minute masturbation scene. 'We Fuck Alone' (Gaspar Noé) has a doll as a main character.
Shortbus is a 2006 American film written and directed by John Cameron Mitchell. The plot revolves around a sexually diverse ensemble of colorful characters trying desperately to connect in New York City. The characters converge in a weekly Brooklyn artistic/sexual salon loosely inspired by various underground NYC gatherings that took place in the early 2000s. According to Mitchell, the film attempts to "employ sex in new cinematic ways because it's too interesting to leave to porn." Shortbus includes a variety of explicit scenes containing non-simulated sexual intercourse with visible penetration and male ejaculation.
Plot
Set in contemporary New York City, Shortbus revolves around Sofia Lin (Sook-Yin Lee), who is married to the handsome but unambitious Rob (Raphael Barker). She works as a couples counselor/sex therapist. She comes into contact with a couple: former child star Jamie (PJ DeBoy) and former prostitute James (Paul Dawson), the film's other lead character. At the outset, James suggests to his boyfriend that they open up their relationship to sex with others. During their first consultation, Sofia snaps, slaps Jamie, and then apologetically reveals her "pre-orgasmic" status. The couple suggests she attend a weekly social/artistic/sexual salon in Brooklyn called "Shortbus," which is hosted by dragperformance artistJustin Bond (playing himself). Sofia slowly opens up to new experiences; this includes a friendship with a dominatrix who goes by the name Severin (Lindsay Beamish). Sofia's inability to achieve orgasm begins to cause conflict with Rob, who in turn begins attending Shortbus with Sofia.
James and Jamie meet a young ex-model and aspiring singer named Ceth (pronounced "Seth," and portrayed by Jay Brannan) and the three begin a sexual relationship. Meanwhile, James and Jamie's life is being closely watched by their across-the-street stalker neighbor, Caleb (Peter Stickles). Caleb fears the inclusion of Ceth in James and Jamie's relationship might break them up and thus destroy his ability to live vicariously through them, so he attends Shortbus, where he confronts Ceth. Sofia begins to go daily to a spa with a sensory deprivation tank to meet with Severin, and the two begin to have intense conversations. Severin begins to help Sofia loosen up sexually; Sofia helps Severin achieve a deeper human connection than she had experienced before. One evening at Shortbus, Severin discusses with Sofia the idea of giving up sex work to pursue her dream of being an artist. The two then have an unplanned sexual experience, and once again Sofia is left unsatisfied. Throughout the film, James is seen making a film about himself and his relationship. It turns out to be a suicide note. He attempts to take his own life and is rescued by Caleb, who calls for help, but is too embarrassed to wait with James for the help to arrive. He writes his phone number and email address on James' face while he is unconscious. When James wakes in the hospital, he calls Caleb. James goes to Caleb's home to be consoled, but does not contact Jamie or Ceth, neither of whom can understand why he wouldn't call them or come home.
There follows an interlocking trio of scenes showing connections between the characters' emotional problems and their sexual lives.
At Caleb's house, he and James have sex, and James allows Caleb to penetrate him, something he has never allowed anyone to do before. Afterward, in a dramatic revelation, James is seen in the window of Caleb's apartment by Jamie, who realizes in that moment that James is alive and okay.
Rob and Severin have a paid encounter where Rob asks to be flogged, something he couldn't ask Sofia to do. As this progresses, Severin loses control and Rob tries to comfort her.
Sofia seems to have a dream of struggling through an overgrown, wild forested area to a gentle seashore where she tries to achieve orgasm again. On failing, she screams, and in the real world the lights go off across the city, seemingly caused by the simultaneous and collective frustration of the characters.
The film ends with a song by Justin Bond at Shortbus during the blackout. Sofia arrives and finds Rob with Severin and after acknowledging him sits down by herself. James and Jamie also arrive followed by Ceth and Caleb. Justin's song starts on a wistful note, but as it progresses it becomes more energetic and positive thanks to the arrival of the Hungry March Band. This is mirrored in the actions and emotions of the actors. Jamie and James make out on the floor, and Ceth and Caleb start to hit it off. Rob seems to find a friend, and Severin progresses from nervous anxiety to happy elation upon the arrival of the band. Sofia engages in a threesome with a couple she has seen several times before and who appear to meet her prerequisite of "just beginning to experiment sexually" (Nick and Leah, played by Jan Hilmer and Shanti Carson), and finally achieves an orgasm, and the blackout affecting New York ends, as does the film.
Mitchell himself is featured in two shots in the Sex-Not-Bombs Room: the first, kissing a dark-haired man; and the second, performing cunnilingus on a woman sitting on a couch.
Jonathan Caouette, director of Tarnation, as the man who steals some "blondies" off a plate in the Sex-Not-Bombs Room. Mitchell met him when Caouette auditioned for Shortbus and subsequently became executive producer of Tarnation.
Mary Beth Peil, best known as Evelyn "Grams" Ryan on Dawson's Creek, as the woman with her hand down the storm drain (Severin takes a Polaroid of her).
Singer-songwriter Reginald Vermue (aka Gentleman Reg) has a song on the soundtrack and appears as "The Albino"
Tristan Taormino, a sex columnist and porn film director/occasional actress, is one of the participants in the orgy sequence.[2]
The audition website elicited half a million hits and 500 audition tape submissions. 40 people were called in for improv auditions and nine actors were cast, all before there was any story in mind. The film's characters and story were created collaboratively over 2.5 years through improvisation workshops with the cast. Mitchell wrote the screenplay from the raw material generated by the workshops and rehearsals.
Much of the sex in the film is unsimulated. Mitchell says:
In the old days, when you couldn't show sex on film, directors like Hitchcock had metaphors for sex (trains going into tunnels, etc). When you can show more realistic sex, the sex itself can be a metaphor for other parts of the character's lives. The way people express themselves sexually can tell you a lot about who they are. Some people ask me, 'Couldn't you have told the same story without the explicitness?'. They don't ask whether I could've done Hedwig without the songs. Why not be allowed to use every paint in the paintbox?
As indicated in the DVD special features, Lee and Shanti Carson each suggested they be filmed having real orgasms rather than fake them, specifically for the final scene involving Lee and the orgy sequence involving Carson. Mitchell also participated in the latter scene, performing oral sex on a woman for the first time "as a gesture of solidarity".[2]
The panoramic cityscape interspersed through the film was completely computer-generated and designed by John Bair.
Inspiration
The characters all converge on a weekly underground gathering or salon called Shortbus, inspired by the short yellow school buses for "challenged" students. The Shortbus salon was loosely based on a series of New York social/artistic/sexual gatherings. One was the monthly "Shortbus Sweaty Teenage Dance Party" organized by Mitchell (2002) as "DJ Dear Tic", his Radical Faerie nickname (Mitchell was influenced by annual Radical Faerie counter-cultural gatherings in Tennessee and New Orleans). Others influences include the Lusty Loft Parties that took place at a Brooklyn art collective called DUMBA (where the film's salon was actually shot), and the weekly CineSalon film gathering, both of which were organized, in part, by Stephen Kent Jusick who plays Creamy in the film. The still-running underground Rubulad party was also an inspiration.
The character of Tobias — the elderly man who claims to be an ex-Mayor of New York City — played by Alan Mandell, alludes to Mayor Ed Koch, who has long been the subject of rumors about his sexual orientation.[citation needed]
Casting
Several members of the cast previously worked with Mitchell in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, including:
Sofia's therapy client, Cheryl, is played by Miriam Shor, who portrayed Yitzhak, Hedwig's back-up singer/lover.
Mandell, who played Tobias, appeared as a restaurant customer who receives a "car wash" from Hedwig. Mandell met Mitchell when they performed together wearing radiation burn makeup in a 1987 Los Angeles stage production about Chernobyl. Mandell was a great friend and collaborator of playwright Samuel Beckett and was directed by him in Waiting for Godot and Endgame.[disambiguation needed] They met after Mandell co-founded the San Quentin Prison Drama Workshop in the mid-60s which produced works of Beckett, among other playwrights. Mandell introduced Mitchell to Beckett in Paris in 1988, the year before Beckett died.
PJ DeBoy appeared as the Hedhead with dreads in the scene where Hedwig recounts her Tommy Gnosis stories atop a big pile of tires.
Jokes
There is a plot device involving a vibrating egg with the brand name, In the Realm of the Senses. This is a wink to the explicit 1976 Nagisa Oshima film of the same name in which a man urges his lover to insert a hard-boiled egg in her vagina and "lay it".
Justin Bond's line: "As my dear, departed friend Lotus Weinstock used to say, 'I used to want to change the world. Now I just want to leave the room with a little dignity'" refers to a stand-up line from real-life comedian Lotus Weinstock, a Los Angeles-based performer who was Lenny Bruce's last girlfriend. Mitchell was friendly with Weinstock and her daughter, singer-songwriter Lili Haydn, before Weinstock died in 1997.
The film playing in the first Shortbus salon scene is, in effect, an elaborate "erotic" joke. It's entitled "Saverio" and was directed by Mitchell as a tribute to a 70's-era short film called "Calma". The score song is "Kids" by John LaMonica which appears on the film soundtrack. (Link to full version of "Saverio": [1])
Shortbus received mixed to positive reviews, currently holding a 66% "fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes; the consensus states: "The sex may be explicit, but Mitchell integrates it into the characters' lives and serves the whole story up with a generous dose of sweetness and wit."[4] On Metacritic, which uses an average of critics' reviews, the film has 64/100, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[5]
Public reaction
Some have branded the film "pornographic". In response, Mitchell says that the dictionary defines porn as "material created and viewed for the primary purpose of sexual arousal," and argues that the sex in Shortbus is often purposefully "de-eroticized" to "remove the cloud of arousal to reveal emotions and ideas that might have been obscured by it".
“
Sex, like music, is a universal language. We want to use it to introduce character, evoke emotion, propel the plot.
”
— Mitchell
Sook-Yin Lee was nearly fired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, for which she hosts a radio program, Definitely Not the Opera, because of her participation in several unsimulated sex scenes in the film. Ultimately, she retained her job as the CBC relented in the face of support for Lee from the public,[6] as well as from celebrities such as Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Stipe, Moby, Julianne Moore and Yoko Ono.[7]
The Korea Media Rating Board banned the film from public screenings in South Korea in 2007 for its sex scenes and gay content, although it still screened at film festivals not subject to the Board's authority. Sponge ENT, the film's South Korean distributor, filed suit and in 2009, the Supreme Court of South Korea ordered the ban lifted, declaring the national film censorship law unconstitional for its ambiguity.[8]
[Home media
The film was released to DVD in North America on March 13, 2007. The DVD features a comprehensive documentary, "Gifted and Challenged: the Making of Shortbus" (Director/producer M. Sean Kaminsky), the vérité-style "How to Shoot Sex: A Docu-Primer", deleted scenes (including a dropped subplot about a character who is the Bush twins' personal assistant), as well as a filmmaker/cast audio commentary.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released on Conor Oberst's record label, Team Love. Mitchell directed the music video for Bright Eyes' "First Day of My Life" (which featured Shortbus cast members Bitch, Daniela Sea, and Ray Rivas). The soundtrack was released in Europe on V2 with the Anita O'Day song replaced by "What Matters To Me" by Tiebreaker (John LaMonica).
The Raspberry Reich is a 2004 film by director Bruce LaBruce which explores what LaBruce calls "terrorist chic", cult dynamics, and the "innate radical potential of homosexual expression".[2] It is about a contemporary terrorist group who set out to continue the work of the Red Army Faction (RAF), also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang. The group consists of several young men, and a female leader named Gudrun (after Gudrun Ensslin). All of the characters are named after original members of the Baader-Meinhof Gang or revolutionaries such as Che Guevara.
They call themselves the "Sixth Generation of the Baader-Meinhof Gang" and "The Raspberry Reich". "Reich" is a reference to communist sexologist Wilhelm Reich. In addition, the term "Raspberry Reich" was coined by RAF leader Gudrun Ensslin to refer to the oppression of consumer society.[3] An "uncut" version of the film has been released, titled The Revolution Is My Boyfriend, edited by the gay pornographic film company Cazzo Film including erotic scenes edited out in the original version.[4]
Plot
The core plot begins with the kidnapping of Patrick, the son of a wealthy industrialist. Sexual and romantic engtanglements push the drama forward. At the film's climax, Gudrun delivers a soliloquy on the importance of personal life in revolution. She puts particular emphasis on the breaking of heterosexual and possessive sexual norms, urging her comrades to join "The Homosexual Intifada".
The pressure of Gudrun's controlling personality causes the group to break up. Most of the urban guerrillas escape into the night. In the dénouement, the characters are visited some time later. Several have found happiness in the homosexual relationships established during their revolutionary activities. Che has become a terrorist trainer in the Middle East. Patrick escapes with Clyde, where they embark on a spree of bank robberies. This action is reminiscent of Patty Hearst's actions with the SLA. Gudrun and Holger settle down and have a child named Ulrike (after Ulrike Meinhof), whom Gudrun believes could embody the next generation of the Red Army Faction.
Style
The film's style is propagandistic. The actors are placed in rooms wallpapered with photographs of Gudrun Ensslin, Ulrike Meinhof, Andreas Baader, and Che Guevara. This symbolises the historical connection to the RAF. At several points during the film, the action pauses while the characters recite long passages from Vaneigem's The Revolution of Everyday Life, as though they are speaking from their own thoughts. Onscreen titles are also used to convey and enhance political messages.
Pornography plays a large visual role in the film. The opening sequence features a montage of sexual acts involving the two main characters, Gudrun and Andreas. There are also plot driven sex scenes involving the characters of Patrick and Clyde engaging in real explicit onscreen oral and anal sex acts with each other. Much of these scenes intentions are to not only arouse but also present themes of satire and of character development.
Slogans
Slogans are used to convey the politics of the Raspberry Reich. They are both an extension and parody of the slogans used by political organisations. Some slogans used in the film:
"The Revolution is my boyfriend!"
"Fuck me up against the wall, motherfucker!" (A use of the famous phrase "against the wall, motherfuckers," which was taken from an Amiri Baraka poem and is the name of an anarchist group in New York.)
"Fuck me for the Revolution!"
"Are you revolutionary enough to give up your girlfriends?" (Question originally asked at a Weather Underground conference counterposing sexuality and revolution, in the context of Raspberry Reich it counterposes hetero and homosexuality.)
"Join the homosexual intifada!"
"No revolution without sexual revolution. No sexual revolution without homosexual revolution."
"Out of the bedrooms into the streets!" - chanted while engaged in sexual activity
"Heterosexuality is the opiate of the masses"
Declaring things to be counter-revolutionary: "Corporate hip hop is counter-revolutionary!"; "Madonna is counter-revolutionary!"; "Cornflakes are counter-revolutionary!"; "Masturbation is counter-revolutionary!".
Humour
Humour is employed to explore the gap between reality and ideal in the terrorist world. For example, after the kidnapping is complete, the terrorists who are sworn vegetarians for political reasons ("meat is counter-revolutionary") visit Burger King, a multinational corporate fast food chain, (although it's true that Burger King is one of the few major fast-food chains to carry a veggie burger).
