'Shortbus' restored... just in time for our sexphobic era!

by Nathaniel R

Dearest readers, January kills me. I feel overwhelmed for 31 days in a row from the moment I wake up to the moment I fitfully sleep and I never even get to have sex (that's on topic, sorry!). There are always too many things: Oscar campaigns, best of lists, numerous deadlines, transcribing interviews, Sundance. Each year in January (why January?) there are also cool revivals and restorations that emerge at the same exact time everything else is happening (including the re-emergence of those "qualifying" Oscar releases). This is a long and navel-gazing way to say that one of the most singular movies of the the Aughts, John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus (2006), has been restored and is in theaters again right where it was born in New York City. Unfortunately we haven't made it to the theater yet.

I loved it so much in 2006. It meant a lot to me for numerous reasons back then, the simplest being that I needed it, being a newish gay New Yorker who had years of sexual repression to unpack (Hello Mormonism!). So for a quick fun reminiscence, let's talk about its history right here at the site's own Film Bitch Awards...

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