Following his directorial breakout Hedwig and the Angry Inch in 2001, John Cameron Mitchell followed it up a half-a-decade later with 2006’s subversive sex dramedy Shortbus. Now celebrating its 15th anniversary following its Cannes debut, the film has undergone a 4K restoration and a new trailer has arrived ahead of a theatrical run beginning at IFC Center on January 26 via Oscilloscope Laboratories.
Starring Sook-Yin Lee, Paul Dawson, Lindsay Beamish, Pj Deboy, Raphael Barker, Peter Stickles, Jay Brannan, and Justin Vivian Bond, the film follows the lives of several emotionally challenged characters as they navigate the comic and tragic intersections between love and sex in and around a modern-day underground salon. A sex therapist who has never had an orgasm, a dominatrix who is unable to connect, a gay couple who are deciding whether to open up their relationship, and the people who weave in and out of their lives, all converge...
Starring Sook-Yin Lee, Paul Dawson, Lindsay Beamish, Pj Deboy, Raphael Barker, Peter Stickles, Jay Brannan, and Justin Vivian Bond, the film follows the lives of several emotionally challenged characters as they navigate the comic and tragic intersections between love and sex in and around a modern-day underground salon. A sex therapist who has never had an orgasm, a dominatrix who is unable to connect, a gay couple who are deciding whether to open up their relationship, and the people who weave in and out of their lives, all converge...
- 1/10/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Reviewed by Marcey Papandrea, MoreHorror.com
Going into a film with little to no knowledge about it is definitely something I would recommend, being surprised can be such a rare event these days, especially in cinema. Forgetting The Girl surprised me and I knew next to nothing about it aside from the title and one sentence summary. This was a good surprise, but also one that left me reeling as the credits were rolling. This is not a film that reveals all its cards straight away, it is a character study that unwinds and certainly keeps its audience guessing as to what is happening.
Kevin Wolfe (Christopher Denham) is a photographer who takes headshots of models and actresses, he's around women all the time and his experiences aren't generally all that positive. When he was a child he suffered the death of his sister and he struggles to remember what happened that day,...
Going into a film with little to no knowledge about it is definitely something I would recommend, being surprised can be such a rare event these days, especially in cinema. Forgetting The Girl surprised me and I knew next to nothing about it aside from the title and one sentence summary. This was a good surprise, but also one that left me reeling as the credits were rolling. This is not a film that reveals all its cards straight away, it is a character study that unwinds and certainly keeps its audience guessing as to what is happening.
Kevin Wolfe (Christopher Denham) is a photographer who takes headshots of models and actresses, he's around women all the time and his experiences aren't generally all that positive. When he was a child he suffered the death of his sister and he struggles to remember what happened that day,...
- 5/19/2014
- by admin
- MoreHorror
*full disclosure: a DVD screener of this film was provided by Ram Releasing. *possible spoilers ahead. Director: Nate Taylor. Writer: Peter Moore Smith. Cast: Christopher Denham, Lindsay Beamish, Elizabeth Rice and Paul Sparks. Forgetting the Girl is a psychological thriller, set in New York City. The film takes elements from a stage play, with the protagonist revealing himself to a camera and to the audience over time. Often told through a first person narrative, Forgetting the Girl is an intriguing film. The mystery is built by the character Kevin (Christopher Denham), who has a dark past. Well shot and well acted, Forgetting the Girl is a suspenseful thriller and one that should find a wide audience. The story begins and ends with the complex character Kevin. Kevin is a photographer, who shoots models and actresses in the Big Apple. He mixes business with pleasure. And soon, Kevin is taking his clients out on the town.
- 4/2/2014
- by noreply@blogger.com (Michael Allen)
- 28 Days Later Analysis
Kevin Wolfe (Christopher Denham of Sound of My Voice) is a nerdy, boring, annoying, creep of a fashion photographer. He is struggling to cope with a tragedy from the past and move forward with his future. I immediately disliked him. He gets rejected by his aspiring model/actress clients on a regular basis. So, instead of lowering his standards and dating within his means, he does things to forget them. Things like, watching TV, going on trips, and, we are led to believe that he may also be doing much darker, more sinister things as well. On rare occasions, his clients say “Yes.” against their better judgment, but that always makes it harder for him to forget.
Kevin’s self deprecation is painful to watch. His self-hatred, awkward mannerisms and severely strained social interactions are almost unbearable. Denham’s portrayal of Kevin is highly effective and well acted, but it...
Kevin’s self deprecation is painful to watch. His self-hatred, awkward mannerisms and severely strained social interactions are almost unbearable. Denham’s portrayal of Kevin is highly effective and well acted, but it...
- 6/3/2012
- shocktillyoudrop.com
Playing tonight at the SoHo International Film Festival is the slow-burn thriller Forgetting the Girl, an impressive feature debut for director Nate Taylor and writer Peter Moore Smith.
Christopher Denham (Shutter Island) stars as New York City photographer, Kevin Wolfe, who specializes in headshots. He's haunted by a tragedy from his past and this certainly doesn't help his mental state any when he's rejected by the women he has asked out. Lindsay Beamish, Elizabeth Rice and Anna Camp also star in the film which has been making the festival rounds for the last few months.
"Peter and I both worked in advertising and he saw some of the stuff I was doing and said that I could do a lot with a little," Taylor tells Shock Till You Drop of the film's genesis. "He had a cool script we could make for no money. I saw the script and loved it.
Christopher Denham (Shutter Island) stars as New York City photographer, Kevin Wolfe, who specializes in headshots. He's haunted by a tragedy from his past and this certainly doesn't help his mental state any when he's rejected by the women he has asked out. Lindsay Beamish, Elizabeth Rice and Anna Camp also star in the film which has been making the festival rounds for the last few months.
"Peter and I both worked in advertising and he saw some of the stuff I was doing and said that I could do a lot with a little," Taylor tells Shock Till You Drop of the film's genesis. "He had a cool script we could make for no money. I saw the script and loved it.
- 4/17/2012
- shocktillyoudrop.com
There are a few images in from the Shana Feste directed and written "The Greatest" drama. The film is a nominee at this year's Sundance Film Festival for the Grand Jury Prize and tells of a troubled teen girl and a family battling with the loss of their son. Starring are Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon, Johnny Simmons, Zoe Kravitz, James Biberi, Lindsay Beamish, Javier Picayo and Miles Robbins. Feste makes her feature-length writing, producing and directorial debut on the film. Brosnan was last in the successful musical "Mamma Mia!" and is in production for "Vanilla Gorilla"...
- 1/16/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
There are a few images in from the Shana Feste directed and written "The Greatest" drama. The film is a nominee at this year's Sundance Film Festival for the Grand Jury Prize and tells of a troubled teen girl and a family battling with the loss of their son. Starring are Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon, Johnny Simmons, Zoe Kravitz, James Biberi, Lindsay Beamish, Javier Picayo and Miles Robbins. Feste makes her feature-length writing, producing and directorial debut on the film. Brosnan was last in the successful musical "Mamma Mia!" and is in production for "Vanilla Gorilla"...
- 1/16/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
There are a few images in from the Shana Feste directed and written "The Greatest" drama. The film is a nominee at this year's Sundance Film Festival for the Grand Jury Prize and tells of a troubled teen girl and a family battling with the loss of their son. Starring are Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon, Johnny Simmons, Zoe Kravitz, James Biberi, Lindsay Beamish, Javier Picayo and Miles Robbins. Feste makes her feature-length writing, producing and directorial debut on the film. Brosnan was last in the successful musical "Mamma Mia!" and is in production for "Vanilla Gorilla" alongside Dennis Haysbert. Sarandon was alongside Emile Hirsch in the unsuccesful "Speed Racer" big screen adaptation from the Wachowskis. See all the images here.
- 1/16/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
There are a few images in from the Shana Feste directed and written "The Greatest" drama. The film is a nominee at this year's Sundance Film Festival for the Grand Jury Prize and tells of a troubled teen girl and a family battling with the loss of their son. Starring are Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon, Johnny Simmons, Zoe Kravitz, James Biberi, Lindsay Beamish, Javier Picayo and Miles Robbins. Feste makes her feature-length writing, producing and directorial debut on the film. Brosnan was last in the successful musical "Mamma Mia!" and is in production for "Vanilla Gorilla"...
- 1/16/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
CANNES -- John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus is a pansexual comedy that tries to get at character through graphic sexual behavior. So here's the question the movie raises: Is sex really a spectator sport? Pornography, of course, is designed to stimulate sexual excitement in viewers, which they may choose to relieve or not, but the sexual acts are disconnected from emotions. In this film, however, Mitchell -- who created his script by work-shopping scenes and characters with his open-minded and brave cast -- wants to, as he puts it, "use the language of sex as a metaphor for other aspects of the characters' lives."
Well, you probably could try the same thing with how people eat or drive cars. But can one really achieve dramatic enlightenment by watching characters engage in a single activity for an entire movie? Will we really understand their lives as a consequence?
There will be those, of course, who will see this movie as profoundly sophisticated and artful. Just as predictably, the film will raise the hackles of our current conservative critics who howl over any breach of orthodoxy, which may make Shortbus a hot boxoffice ticket for a brief period. Yet the film lacks the depth and discipline of Mitchell's first film venture, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which makes Shortbus a real disappointment.
The title refers to a New York multisex underground salon, named after the school bus used for children with disabilities or emotional problems. It is to this salon that the movie's characters repair to watch or engage in public group sex.
The subplots are cleverly linked by digital artist John Bair, through whose 3-D animated cityscape the movie can glide at a moment's notice.
These include Sofia (Sook-Yin Lee), a sex therapist unable to achieve an orgasm with her loving husband Rob (Raphael Barker); Severin (Lindsay Beamish), a dominatrix who lives in an industrial storage unit and has never had a lasting relationship; James (Paul Dawson) and his devoted Jamie (PJ DeBoy), a gay couple who enter the crisis zone when James suggests opening up their sexual relationship to other partners.
They find what they're looking for in Ceth (Jay Brannan), a model-singer who falls for them as a couple. Meanwhile, James has a stalker, albeit a caring and gentle one, in Caleb (Peter Stickles), whose apartment across the street from James affords him a perfect vantage point to photograph his sexual couplings.
Unfortunately, the characters lack dimension when removed from the arena of sex. All problems, goals and desires are sexual in nature. Jobs, ambitions and families are banished to the very margins of the movie, if seen at all.
Mitchell does partially succeed in his sex-as-metaphor objective. Moments of genuine humor emerge from the geometry of the couplings. For instance, when was the last time you saw or heard anyone perform The Star-Spangled Banner on the rear portion of the human anatomy?
You do gain some insights into these people through the inventive positions and marital aids they so eagerly employ. But you gain more in the ceaseless group-therapy speak that continues before, during and after much of their sexual activities, a tacit admission that merely watching sex isn't going to tell us that much about peoples' lives.
This is a cheerful and even a tad sentimental film, whose actors, despite in some cases a lack of experience, deliver believable performances in and out of their clothes. But to answer the question, no, sex doesn't really make a good spectator sport.
SHORTBUS
Fortissimo presents in association with Q Television a Process production
Credits: Writer-director: John Cameron Mitchell; Producers: Howard Gertler, Tim Perell, John Cameron Mitchell; Executive producers: Michael J. Werner, Wouter Barendrecht; Director of photography: Frank G. DeMarco; Production designer: Jody Asnes; Music: Yo La Tengo; Costumes: Kurt and Bart; Editor: Brian A. Kates. Cast: Sofia: Sook-Yin Lee; James: Paul Dawson; Severin: Lindsay Beamish; Jamie: PJ DeBoy; Rob: Raphael Barker; Ceth: Jay Brannan; Caleb: Peter Stickles.
No MPAA rating, running time 102 minutes.
Well, you probably could try the same thing with how people eat or drive cars. But can one really achieve dramatic enlightenment by watching characters engage in a single activity for an entire movie? Will we really understand their lives as a consequence?
There will be those, of course, who will see this movie as profoundly sophisticated and artful. Just as predictably, the film will raise the hackles of our current conservative critics who howl over any breach of orthodoxy, which may make Shortbus a hot boxoffice ticket for a brief period. Yet the film lacks the depth and discipline of Mitchell's first film venture, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which makes Shortbus a real disappointment.
The title refers to a New York multisex underground salon, named after the school bus used for children with disabilities or emotional problems. It is to this salon that the movie's characters repair to watch or engage in public group sex.
The subplots are cleverly linked by digital artist John Bair, through whose 3-D animated cityscape the movie can glide at a moment's notice.
These include Sofia (Sook-Yin Lee), a sex therapist unable to achieve an orgasm with her loving husband Rob (Raphael Barker); Severin (Lindsay Beamish), a dominatrix who lives in an industrial storage unit and has never had a lasting relationship; James (Paul Dawson) and his devoted Jamie (PJ DeBoy), a gay couple who enter the crisis zone when James suggests opening up their sexual relationship to other partners.
They find what they're looking for in Ceth (Jay Brannan), a model-singer who falls for them as a couple. Meanwhile, James has a stalker, albeit a caring and gentle one, in Caleb (Peter Stickles), whose apartment across the street from James affords him a perfect vantage point to photograph his sexual couplings.
Unfortunately, the characters lack dimension when removed from the arena of sex. All problems, goals and desires are sexual in nature. Jobs, ambitions and families are banished to the very margins of the movie, if seen at all.
Mitchell does partially succeed in his sex-as-metaphor objective. Moments of genuine humor emerge from the geometry of the couplings. For instance, when was the last time you saw or heard anyone perform The Star-Spangled Banner on the rear portion of the human anatomy?
You do gain some insights into these people through the inventive positions and marital aids they so eagerly employ. But you gain more in the ceaseless group-therapy speak that continues before, during and after much of their sexual activities, a tacit admission that merely watching sex isn't going to tell us that much about peoples' lives.
This is a cheerful and even a tad sentimental film, whose actors, despite in some cases a lack of experience, deliver believable performances in and out of their clothes. But to answer the question, no, sex doesn't really make a good spectator sport.
SHORTBUS
Fortissimo presents in association with Q Television a Process production
Credits: Writer-director: John Cameron Mitchell; Producers: Howard Gertler, Tim Perell, John Cameron Mitchell; Executive producers: Michael J. Werner, Wouter Barendrecht; Director of photography: Frank G. DeMarco; Production designer: Jody Asnes; Music: Yo La Tengo; Costumes: Kurt and Bart; Editor: Brian A. Kates. Cast: Sofia: Sook-Yin Lee; James: Paul Dawson; Severin: Lindsay Beamish; Jamie: PJ DeBoy; Rob: Raphael Barker; Ceth: Jay Brannan; Caleb: Peter Stickles.
No MPAA rating, running time 102 minutes.
- 5/22/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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