Posted on 05/20/2006 5:12:08 PM PDT by .cnI redruM
A US film featuring actors performing real sex is a "call to arms" against President George W. Bush, the director told journalists at the Cannes film festival.
"Shortbus," an explicit, largely improvised arthouse flick that includes a rendition of the American national anthem during a gay sex scene, is a direct provocation, director John Cameron Mitchell admitted.
"It's a little bit of a cri de coeur to us, a little bit of a call to arms" against the prevailing conservatism, he told a media conference, adding that his country was living in "the era of Bush, which is about clamping down, being scared."
The 43-year-old, whose previous work was "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," about a transsexual rock singer, said the film was his own small act of defiance against Bush.
"If you can't do elections you might as well do erections," he said.
Although the first half of the film is filled with sex, including orgies and masturbation, the act itself is not meant to be erotic but rather to challenge the audience and make it confront issues such as loneliness, the illusion of self-sufficiency and other seemingly unrelated problems, Mitchell said.
One scene likely to create controversy in the United States and some other countries shows a gay threesome in which one participant joyfully bellows "The Star Spangled Banner."
The actor with the singing voice, PJ Deboy, said he did the scene to show that he was as American as anyone, despite resistance to gays in parts of the country, including Washington.
"I thought to myself: 'Can I do it...?' And I decided I could, because it is a patriotic act.... There's nothing un-American about gay sex and there's nothing unpatriotic about it," he said.
He also joked that "I am now touring and singing every country's national anthem," and called for volunteers to assist.
Mitchell pointed out that the movie, filmed in New York City, also made pointed references to the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
Near the end of the movie, the lights flicker out as they did during a blackout that briefly occurred in 2003, provoking fears of a terrorist attack -- and then relief and a sense of togetherness that is likened to an orgasm.
"This film is in the shadow of 9/11, but it shows we're still alive, y'know?" the director said.
"Sex is not that interesting unless it's put into an artistic context, or you're having it yourself," Mitchell said.
"And sometimes not even then," added a cross-dressing actor called Justin Bond who played himself in the movie.
Can people get any more stupid?
Paging gigolo John Kerry...
;)
Uh huh. See how that plays in the Middle East, freak.
Thank God we have the political enemies that we have.
I think my tagline fits.
Totally disgusting....what has this country become?
Yeah. All they do is dress up as cowboys, have gay sex, and eat chocolate pudding. Our negative campaign ads consist entirely of footage of them just doing what they do.
Blah. This is a few dozen freaks with a new excuse to film themselves having gay sex. I wouldn't read too much into it.
Well, Bill Clinton was elected twice... |
Nope. It's the end of the line.
What a freakin loser. I'm sure the libs love him.
As if Pres. Bush (and 99.99999 percent of the rest of the world) would even notice this loser.
So this brilliant filmaker needs GW Bush to help him market it...IS THERE ANYTHING THIS PRESIDENT CAN'T DO?????? LOL!!!
Ignore it. He's just trying to get a rise out of people.
Things that make ya go Hmmm, indeed.
I think we just found a new name for peace pukes, "the Angry Inchers"
"Gay Cowboys Eating Pudding" PING!
How lame.
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